Seminar: “Advances That Support A New Paradigm for the Design of Concrete Structures” with Professor Dan Kuchma of Tufts University
“ADVANCES THAT SUPPORT A NEW PARADIGM FOR THE DESIGN OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES”
Professor Dan Kuchma, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Tufts University
Structural Mechanics Seminar
Departments of Civil and Mechanical Engineering
Advanced Structures and Composites Center
Friday September 30, 2016, 3:10 pm
St. John Hill Auditorium, Barrows Hall
The dominant approach to the design of concrete structures is to assume that concrete is a linear elastic material for the purpose of calculating demands on all parts of structures, and then to use largely empirical provisions in codes-of-practice to ensure that the structure has adequate strength. This approach can be wasteful, unsafe, and a barrier to providing innovative design solutions to common and complex design challenges. Advances in sensor technologies and new methods of testing and analysis has the potential to provide engineers with the ability to accurately consider the full inelastic behavior of materials and thereby to design concrete structures for performance under the full regime of loading possibilities. This presentation will focus on: (i) full field measurement capabilities, (ii) advances in inelastic finite element modeling, (iii) national test-data archives, (iv) model validation, and (v) modernization of codes-of-practice.
Dan Kuchma jointed Tufts University in 2014 after being a professor of structural engineering at the University of Illinois for the prior 17 years. His primary expertise is in the testing, modeling, and design of concrete structures. He serves on the building code committee of the American Concrete Institute, has contributed extensively to the US bridge code, and he also serves on the committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission that just completed the first draft of an international standard on the design of wind turbine towers and foundations.