Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Let There Be Peace On Earth...

"Engineers are Cool!" :-D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGmIkYw19gg

A Wind Engineer's Blog

Prof. Ahsan Kareem of the NatHaz Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, is "web-sourcing the 'TechnoCrowd' to enhance wind engineering research and development" through the NatHaz Lab blog.  Visit http://nathazlab.blogspot.com/ and contribute by starting new or participating in current discussions.

Wind Engineering in the Philippines

This is a summary of my presentations at the recent APCWE7 and APEC-WW2009 in Taiwan in November 2009.  Also posted on the ASEANwind website.

CE 256 Part 2 (Wind Effects) - Session 2

Session 2 of this coursework covered still a little bit about Typhoon Engineering and Meteorology, Wind Speed Maps in the Philippines, and started on "Defining the Wind."

International Group on "Typhoon Engineering"

An international group on "typhoon engineering" has now been formed...  Except that they don't call it "typhoon engineering." 

Wind Engineering in Southeast Asia

I have mentioned that I attended the recent 7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering (APCWE7) in Taiwan, which is one of the regional conferences of the International Association for Wind Engineering (IAWE).

Earthquake Engineering on a Global Scale

The following website documents all earthquake-related damages, much like VORTEX-WINDS intends for wind-related typhoon/hurricane damages.

Document Typhoon Damages!

Typhoon hit your town and you want to help?  Go out, bring your camera, point and shoot, then log-on at http://www.vortex-winds.org/ (currently unavailable) and document damages.  We need to better understand what causes wind-related damages so that we can design better structures in the future!

You can also contribute in other ways to wind engineering by joining a "virtual organization" at the same website (http://www.vortex-winds.org/).

CE 256 Part 2 (Wind Effects) - Session 1

Today I gave Session 1 of my part, talking about typhoon damages, typhoon engineering, why it is important, and a little bit about meteorology.  Actually, I was not able to cover everything so next session I will still be talking a little bit more about meteorology and typhoon engineering before I move on to my official Session 2, which is about "Defining the Wind" and the basic wind loading equation which stems from fluid mechanics.

What does performance-based design mean to you?

I have some background only in performance-based structural/seismic evaluation and design of buildings.  I do think in wind design performance-based design (PBD) is already being done for tall buildings particularly those which undergo wind climate studies and wind tunnel testing for structural loading, cladding design, and occupant comfort checking.  This is how I see what PBD is in general, to apply to any field (and it is just what I think).

I think...

APEC-WW in Taipei, Taiwan, 2009

The 5th workshop on harmonization of wind loading and wind environment specifications in Asia-Pacific economies was held at Tamkang University, Yi-lan campus, Taiwan from 13-14 November 2009 after an opening ceremony right after the APCWE-VII.  The workshop has now gone beyond wind load coding issues over to wind-related disaster risk reduction.  As such, our country report made mention (again) of the efforts of the PICE-DMAPS committee.

7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering (APCWE-VII)

I am probably the very first delegate to a regional or international conference on wind engineering who is directly from the Philippines.  Other Filipino wind engineering colleagues who have attended such conferences were either PhD students or employees at foreign universities or consulting firms.  Thus my presentation focused less on technical details but more on what's happening in the Philippines in terms of wind engineering, research, and disaster risk reduction.  I presented on the 3rd day of the conference on 11 November 2009 at the Wind Coding Issues session.

Multi-Tiered Evaluation of Existing Structures

If you are familiar with FEMA publications related to seismic evaluation of existing buildings, you may have heard of the terms "Rapid Visual Assessment," "Tier 1 Screening Procedure," "Tier 2 Evaluation Procedure," and "Tier 3 Detailed Evaluation Procedure," and even "Seismic Rehabilitation."

Looking at these different types of "assessment" procedures together, I would consider them to be a 6-step overall process of seismic evaluation and rehabilitation design for existing buildings:

CE 256 - Structural Design for Dynamic Effects

This semester I am lecturing at the Institute of Civil Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.  The course number is CE 256, and the course title is "Structural Design for Dynamic Effects."  The course is divided into three parts, namely: Structural Dynamics Review (2 sessions), Wind Effects (7 sessions), and Earthquake Effects (5 sessions).  The very last session is going to talk about structural design considering both wind and earthquake effects (i.e. the case in the Philippines).  I am lecturing the second part on Wind Effects.

The main outline of the Wind Effects part is as follows:

Engineering Misconceptions, Part 4 - To what extent can I not design to code? Will it still be safe against earthquakes and typhoons?

The above subject is a three-part question.

A. To what extent can your building be not designed to code?

1. To no extent! You can't not-design to code. The code is the minimum requirement by law! You can choose to not design to code only if it has been superseded.

Engineering Misconceptions, Part 3 - Earthquake Magnitude and Intensity

Wrong: I designed your building to withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 and intensity 10.

Right: I designed your building according to the minimum safety requirements of the building code which aims to protect life and limb from harm due to a 475-year return period earthquake. I also designed the foundations as appropriate. The intensity depends on the expected level of damage. If all buildings were designed properly, the intensity scale (expected level of damage) would go down for the area around your building.

Facts:

Engineering Misconceptions, Part 2 - Design Wind Speeds

Wrong: A wind speed of 60 m/s has been recorded recently in this area.  Therefore the 55 m/s design wind speed (50-year return period) shown in the Building Code is now wrong.

Right: A wind speed of 60 m/s has been recorded recently in this area.  The basic wind speed for this area as shown in the Building Code is only 55 m/s. I should convert 55 m/s to the actual design wind speed for this area based on the height, topography, and surface roughness to see if the recorded 60 m/s is over and above the actual design wind speed for this specific area. I should also read books to find out what exactly are return periods to better understand them.

Facts:

Engineering Misconceptions, Part 1 - Return Periods

Wrong: The 50-year return period wind speed of 55 m/s occurs once every 50 years.

Wrong: A wind speed of 60 m/s has been recorded recently in this area. Therefore the 55 m/s 50-year return period wind speed is now wrong.*

Right: The 50-year return period wind speed of 55 m/s has a 63% chance or probability of occuring or being exceeded at least once in the next 50 years.

Facts:

ALERT▲M7.2 quake to hit M.Manila?

------ Forwarded Message from a friend

I hope this one's not true. Let's just pray that this will not happen. May God continue to protect us.

--- On Tue, 3/17/09, aceschool.blogspot.com wrote:

From: aceschool.blogspot.com@gmail.com
Subject: ALERT▲M7.2 quake to hit M.Manila - Phivolcs
To: aceschool.blogspot.com@gmail.com
Date: Tuesday, 17 March, 2009, 11:40 AM

Do you know that according to the Phivolcs, a Magnitude 7.2 Strong Earthquake will hit Metro Manila anytime?

Are you prepared?

Basic Structural Dynamics for Structural Engineers

I just delivered a basic structural dynamics lecture for structural engineers.  The audience had varying structural engineering experience from a few months to a couple of decades. 

standard amplitude- and frequency-scaleable time history

is this at all possible?  just a thought.

APEC-WW in Shanghai, China

Today is Day 1 of the 4th Workshop on Regional Harmonization of Wind Loading and Wind Environmental Specifications in Asia-Pacific Economies (APEC-WW). I presented our country paper/report entitled "Wind Loading in the Philippines: Recent Developments in 2006-2007."

PICE Regional Conferences - Region I/CAR West (Ilocos), Region IV (Southern Tagalog), Region V (Bicol)

I made presentations on 'Typhoon Engineering' at regional conferences of the PICE around Luzon.

4th CECAR in Taipei, Taiwan

The 4th CECAR (Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region) was held in Taipei, Taiwan from June 25-28, 2007. Yours truly was co-author and presentor of two papers on wind speeds (wind hazards) and typhoon engineering:

PICE 2007 Mid-Year in Davao

I presented a paper entitled "Historical review of wind speed maps in the Philippines for various purposes: toward further development and use as wind hazard maps under the PICE-DMAPS program" (co-authors: B.M. Pacheco, N.E. Rosaria, L.E.O. Garciano). The idea was to present to a Philippine (civil engineering) audience a similar paper that I was to present at the later 4th CECAR (Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region) in Taiwan 10 days after to an Asia-Pacific audience (East Asia, Australia, USA).

ASEP 2007 International Convention in Manila

A paper entitled "Consideration of dynamic wind effects in the structural design and evaluation of truss-type structures typically damaged during recent typhoons" was presented at the 12th ASEP International Convention (12AIC) held in Manila, Philippines on March 15 and 16, 2007. Following are the details:

ASEP Forum on Billboards

We had an extended abstract and presentation at this forum.

Graduate Thesis: Consideration of Dynamic Wind Effects in the Design and Evaluation of Trussed Towers According to the NSCP-01

Finally, my M.S. Thesis has been fully accepted.

Codes from other countries use the term "lattice towers" instead of "trussed towers." Transmission towers and antenna towers are examples of trussed towers.

Highlights of the thesis include:

0. The main hypothesis of the study is that dynamic wind effects could not be neglected for trussed towers; for example typical trussed towers in the Philippines have aspect ratios around 7, and meanwhile the NSCP-01 requires that dynamic wind effects should be considered for structures with aspect ratios greater than 4.

PICE 2006 National in Iloilo

I submitted and presented a paper entitled "Dynamic wind loading of trussed towers: proposed new supplementary material to the NSCP-01" at the PICE National Convention in Iloilo on November 16 to 18, 2006, based on the main findings of my thesis (see above post).

APEC-WW in New Delhi, India 2006

The Philippines once again sent a delegate to the 3rd APEC-WW held in New Delhi, India on Nov. 2-3, 2006. Some details of the country report are as follows:

Current Research Interests

My research for my M.S. Civil Engineering, Major in Structural Engineering thesis is on quick structural evaluation of free-standing broadcast towers in the Philippines, in consideration of resonant wind effects and change in basic wind speeds.

I also have interest in dynamic response and mitigation, typhoon and earthquake engineering, full-scale measurements, structural investigation, structural design optimization, and computational methods (CFD, FEM).

Typhoon Engineering: We Need it More in the Philippines

If you don't believe that we need more typhoon engineers in the Philippines, check out the papers/presentations I presented at the previous conferences/conventions/workshops I attended, for more information about the very serious but very avoidable effects of typhoons in the Philippines, the number one most typhoon-prone country in the world. Bet you didn't know that, did you?

1st National Meteorological-Hydrological Convention

I again presented a paper, this time in front of mostly meteorologists and other scientists from PAGASA, although there were quite a number of people from other fields (e.g. engineers like myself).

APEC-WW in Hong Kong

I was sent by my superiors as the Philippines' delegate to the 2nd APEC-WW = the Workshop for harmonization of Wind loading codes and Wind environmental specifications in Asia Pacific Economies = hosted by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, first week of December. For more details, visit HKUST's APEC-WW website, or the COE-TPU (Japan) website which co-hosted this 2nd APEC-WW, and hosted the 1st one.

PICE 2005 National in Manila

This time, the show's in Manila. I presented a paper entitled "DMAPS Looking Forward: Calling for 'Typhoon Engineers'." The paper is a modified version of the COE-TPU report I submitted earlier this year at TPU in Japan. DMAPS is a committee of PICE; it stands for Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness Strategies. Visit the PICE website for details.

PICE 2005 Mid-Year in Cebu

I presented a paper on "Monitoring and Mitigating Vibrations at Industrial Facilities and Construction Sites" at the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers' (PICE) 2005 mid-year convention in Cebu. Wonderful time in Cebu. See the photos on multiply.com. Preview the paper/presentation.

COE-TPU Japan page

As you might have read from my japan-2005 blog, I was a short-term researcher at the Wind Engineering Research Center of the Tokyo Polytechnic University. Part of my main requirement for the term was to prepare a country report, which you can find [here]. I have photos of my visit to TPU and many tourist spots in Japan on multiply.com.