Above, left to right: Karl Eid, Sammy Park, Shannon Chen, Mandy Zhong, Emma Sun, Chang Chen, Patricia Wendy, Woongchan Bang, Keats Hua
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign student chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) recently competed at the 17th Annual EERI Seismic Design Competition in San Diego, Calif. Team members Emma Sun, Chang Chen, Karl Eid, Keats Hua, Krishna Patel, Mandy Zhong, Patricia Wendy, Sammy Park, Shannon Chen and Woongchan Bang competed against more than 50 teams from universities around the world.
Teams were challenged to design a tall building model made from balsa wood which would be tested on a shaking table. The students’ model was subjected to two ground motions and a pulse to evaluate its seismic design and construction. Teams were also judged on their oral design presentations, summary posters, architectural design, compliance with design criteria and analytical prediction of their model performance. Top prize in the competition went to Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in Romania.
“The design requirements were pretty tough this year, to a point that many of the other teams’ structures collapsed or were severely damaged in the experimental testing,” said team member Karl Eid. “However, in spite of the exceptionally challenging architectural design, which included extreme vertical and torsional irregularities, our team’s structural design and construction withstood all ground motions – even the pulse at the end!”