Tallest Trends and the Burj Khalifa

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat ratifies official height and “World’s Tallest” status of the Burj Khalifa

CE 256 Pre-Finals Grade

To CE 256 students, for your advanced info these are your final grades unless you are not exempted from taking the final exam (i.e. your Grade is marked "FINALS"). Official results will be posted at the UP ICE bulletin board.

Earthquake and Severe Wind Exposure and Vulnerability Workshop

I talked about two topics at the recent Earthquake and Severe Wind Exposure and Vulnerability Workshop held on 12-13 March 2010 in Tagaytay City, Philippines, organized by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and Geoscience Australia (GA).  The 3 proponents aim to better understand and reduce risks associated with natural hazards in the Philippines, building upon existing tools and methods to estimate impact for local natural hazard events.

Appropriate "retrofit" designs save lives from earthquakes, typhoons, and floods

This download <http://www.unesco-ipred.org/gtfbc/DWf_10_key_points_Hurricane_resistant_construction.pdf> provides a pretty simple enough starting point on what things owners could do to protect life and property.  It appears to have been prepared by Development Workshop France.

UBC or IBC? Revisiting the justifications for moving from UBC to IBC as basis for new NSCP earthquake loading provisions

UPDATE: Please refer also to my newer article entitled, "Designing for near-field earthquakes."


1. Introduction

The National Structural Code of the Philippines (NSCP) has been the primary code that provides guidance to civil and structural engineers on the design and evaluation of buildings, towers, and other vertical structures around the Philippines since its first edition was published in 1972 (then as National Structural Code for Buildings or NSCB). It includes provisions for steel, concrete, timber, and masonry design as well as for estimating combined effects of dead, live, earthquake, wind, and other loads.

CE 256 - Part 2 Wind Effects, Session 7

Today is our last session about wind effects.  I gave the 2nd long exam which involved determination of design wind forces on a borderline-high-rise building on a topographic feature and with a monoslope roof.  After the exam, I talked very briefly about overall design for wind effects - load combinations, wind directions, use of wind tunnel testing, more on natural frequency and damping estimates, occupant comfort, reducing wind-induced vibrations via use of dampers, and so on.  This CE 256 class will start on earthquake effects next Saturday.

CE 256 - Part 2 Wind Effects, Session 6

Today we wrapped up the discussion on Wind Effects Part 4 - Dynamic Wind Effects.  Students submitted their homework from the last session, and were given 2 additional homework problems for submission next week:

CE 256 - Part 2 Wind Effects, Session 5 (UPDATED!)

We continued our discussion on aerodynamics and pressure coefficients.  And then we started our discussion on dynamic wind effects.  Additional references for this discussion, aside from Simiu and Scanlan and NSCP 2001, include the ASCE7 standards (looking at the 1993, 1995, and 1998/2002/2005 versions) and a paper I co-authored with Prof. B.M. Pacheco, PhD, PE, and which he presented at the 2007 PICE National Convention.

Two example problems were given to students as a homework to be submitted next meeting:

CE 256 - Part 2 Wind Effects, Session 4

Today, we had our first long quiz which covered the CE 256 Part 1 topic, structural dynamics, (30%, essay questions) and "defining the wind" (70%+5% bonus) which covered wind speed conversions, and topographic effects.  Students were given 1 hour and 40 minutes to answer the quiz.  We started to discuss about aerodynamics and pressure coefficients for about an hour after the quiz.

CE 256 - Part 2 Wind Effects, Session 3

Today, the discussion on "defining the wind" was continued and some example problems were presented.

CTBUH revises criteria for "tall" buildings

http://www.ctbuh.org/HighRiseInfo/TallestDatabase/Criteria/tabid/446/language/en-GB/Default.aspx