UTCB TEAM wins 3rd place at the 2022 Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States!
We are proud to have had the chance to support the UTCB Team at the 2022 Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States! The Romanian delegation was made up of 9 students who also represented the potential of our alliance, alongside our EU-CONEXUS staff representative.
In our constant endeavour to promote excellence, our alliance contributed to the financial support of the delegation. Also, through the participation of EU-CONEXUS staff representative from UTCB, the promotion of our alliance and of new international partnerships was possible. It was also an opportunity to shed a light on who we are and what we are aiming to do.
Over 30 teams from universities across the US and around the world competed in the SDC. Each team has designed a complex tall building model made from balsa wood that was tested on a shaking table. Student teams were judged based on the model’s architectural design, the response of their model during shaking table testing and based on their:
- oral design presentation
- summary poster
- ability to fit within the design criteria and constraints
- analytical prediction of their model performance
The scope of the competition is to help students develop leadership and interpersonal skills while gaining practical experience within the earthquake engineering fields, serve as an active student earthquake engineering community for sharing knowledge, exchanging experiences, and promoting education. It also gives the civil engineering undergraduate students the opportunity to work on a hands-on project designing and constructing a cost-effective frame building to resist seismic loading.
The criteria used by the judges to approve the damping system of the projects are as follows:
- The primary purpose of the pre-approved damping devices is to dissipate energy
- If the damping system is removed, the balsa wood structure, with all dead load weights attached, should be stable and firmly fixed to the base plate
- Base or floor isolation of any kind is prohibited
- Damping devices may be attached to the base plate
- All damping devices should dissipate energy at each location used in the structural model
- Any material is allowed to be used in a damping device.
The official rules of the competition can be read here.
More information about the event can be accessed on the official EERI Student Leadership Council (SLC) Facebook Page and also on the EERI website.
