Creative Seismic Design Team Scores for Innovation [video]

CEE's Seismic Design Team won the Structural Innovation Award at the EERI Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition. 

Thirty-six participating schools designed a multi-story building for Seattle, Washington, according to set specifications, and then built a scaled balsa wood model based on their design. During the competition, the model was subjected to 3 ground motions, or earthquakes, of increasing magnitude. The goal was for the model to withstand the shaking and not collapse.

CEE's model held strong through the first 2 motions and bravely into the third, before finally collapsing in the last 5 seconds.

Berkeley had decided to implement a unique Negative Stiffness Device (NSD) into their design, a device that had never been tried before and which they hoped would keep their building from collapsing.

Although that was not to be the case, the device created a huge buzz at the convention among teams and professionals alike. In the end, it earned Berkeley the Innovation Award, one of only 6 awards given out in the competition.

Team members turned each other and said, "Let's win the Innovation Award every year."

Berkeley received dimension penalties over a difference in interpretation of what constitutes a shear wall. which affected their overall ranking. Had Berkeley not received that sizable penalty, they would have ranked around 15th place.

To raise funds for the competition, an auction was held where convention attendees could bid to "purchase" the schools' buildings. Bidding began at $20 per building. David Friedman, CEE's Advisory Council President and big supporter of the Design Team, bid $600 for the Berkeley model, the highest bid for any building in the history of the competition.

This year all members were brand new to the team, but next year there will be a couple of veterans, plus guidance from graduating seniors who will be watching over Berkeley's Seismic Design Dynasty in the making.

"We took videos of all the other models. We will study how they shook and how they broke," said Thu Nguyen, "Next year, we'll be ready."


Seismic Team Getting Ready for Shake Day

Competition results:

  • Communication (presentation & poster) — 5th place
  • Analysis of Predicted scores — 11th place
  • Annual Seismic Cost — 27th place
  • Overall Ranking — 30th (out of 35 teams)

  

L to R: CEE model among its competitors; Seismic Design Team with David Friedman, Advisory Council Chair and #1 fan

See related story at Seismic Design Team Heads for EERI Competition.

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