Upcoming Seminars
Bored Tunnels and Underground Construction
June 04, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Luis Piek
In the next 50 years, the density of urban areas will increase, becoming more congested while requiring more advanced and updated infrastructure. Building tunnels and creating underground space is essential to supporting this growth. The sophistication and technology used in this field has matured rapidly in the last 25 years, and is continuing to evolve to meet the challenges faced to support the population and foster its growth. The talk will discuss current technology, and how the industry incorporates of new advances in to carry out these increasingly complex projects.
Past Seminars
Seismic Retrofit and Adaptive Re-Use
January 13, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Robert Randall
This seminar will focus on understanding the design process for the structural seismic retrofitting related to adaptive re-use of existing buildings. Case study examples designed by Saiful Bouquet will be presented that cover Code requirements, design solutions and construction.
Think Global, Buckle Local: Exploring Local Buckling in Structural Steel
January 10, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Benjamin W. Schafer
Local buckling is an important phenomenon in steel structures, and this talk aims to place the phenomenon in the much larger global context of what structural engineers have achieved for society and what work we have left to do. Utilizing an historical lens the talk explores the origins of local buckling in civil structures and how engineers harnessed the best theory of the time to understand and control local buckling.
SPERRA: 3D Concrete Printing Marine Renewable Energy Infrastructure
November 06, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Taylor Marchment & Mason Bell
3DCP (3D Concrete Printing) can help solve logistical and supply chain challenges for fabricating anchors and platforms for floating offshore wind (FOW) and other marine renewable energy structures such as solar and wave. 3DCP offers greater design flexibility, utilizing local material, and faster construction times and is well suited to fabricating large structures. Fabrication can be performed quayside, on semisubmersible barges, or in a dry dock.
Ingenuity in Geotechnical Design using Geosynthetics
October 30, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Jorge G. Zornberg
Even though geosynthetics are now a well-established discipline within geotechnical engineering, ingenuity remains significant in many projects involving their use. This is probably because of the ability to tailor the mechanical and hydraulic properties of geosynthetics in a controlled manner to address design needs in all areas of geotechnical engineering. This presentation focuses on specific geosynthetics advances in a wide range of geotechnical projects.
Safe and Sustainable Dam Infrastructure
October 23, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Vik Iso-Ahola
This presentation will focus on a short career bio and a discussion on engineering consulting as it is applied to large water infrastructure projects, demonstrated through several project case histories. Vik will include broad coverage of the engineering disciplines applied to these projects but also some interesting details on the challenging seismic and
structural evaluations performed. He’ll come prepared to answer your questions and have supplemental detail to present on other aspects of these projects and his related experience.
Tunneling, Design Considerations, and Innovations
October 16, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Jon Y. Kaneshiro
This talk will provide 1. an introduction to tunneling; 2. an introduction to liner design including geotechnical, and liner type considerations; and 3. some other design considerations of liners and cylinders including design innovations. The introduction to the tunneling topic will provide a brief overview of types of tunneling and ground supports. The liner design topic will provide some practical design considerations in terms of loading as well as implications for ground settlement.
Model Validation – A Different Approach
October 14, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Ziyad (Zee) Duron
Modern computational and modeling techniques offer powerful tools for evaluating the ability of large civil structural systems to withstand extreme and hazard loading conditions. Unfortunately, for many owners and operators of these large systems, a confidence gap exists between practical everyday operations and predictions of imminent failure. This talk will discuss reasons for why this gap exists, the state of the current practice, and offer an alternate or different approach that may begin to close this gap.
Seismic Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction in Unsaturated Ground
October 09, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Dr. Majid Ghayoomi
Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction (SFSI) evaluates the collective seismic response of a system containing the superstructure, foundation, and surrounding soil given the earthquake motion at the ground surface. During an earthquake, the seismic motion propagates upward and changes in characteristics, passing through the bedrock and layers of soil before reaching the soil surface and influencing the structural system through its foundation.
Design Considerations for Waterfront and Near Shore Structures
October 02, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: William M. Bruin
Coastal and waterfront developments situated in harsh marine environments require specialized design strategies to ensure long-term resilience. Key considerations such as material selection, site-specific siting, protective coatings, waterproofing, and accurate load analysis are critical for these complex projects. Waterfront structures face unique environmental loads, including wave action, currents, and tsunamis, alongside operational loads that differ significantly from those encountered in traditional buildings.
The Past, Present, and Future of Tall Timber Buildings
June 05, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Lorenzo Glielmi
Join us for an insightful presentation on the evolution and future of timber tall buildings, with a particular emphasis on developments in Europe. We will begin with a historical exploration of the roots of timber construction and tall buildings. From there, we will delve into the latest advancements in technology, focusing on innovative connectors and lateral systems. Our journey will include a series of case studies showcasing prominent tall timber buildings, highlighting key projects across Europe, including the tallest full-timber building in the world.