Registration
Individual webinars are $105 each or a discounted fee of $525 for the entire series. Fee includes tuition and necessary instruction materials.
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Continuing Education Units
Each seminar awards 0.3 CEUs. The entire seminar series awards 1.8 CEUs. One CEU is defined as 10 contact hours in an organized continuing education activity under responsible sponsorship, capable direction, and qualified instruction.
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January 28, 2025
The AI Journey: The Adoption and Innovation in Structural Engineering; Integration of AI-Assisted Tools into Advanced Computational Modeling to Perform Structural Analysis of Old Masonry Buildings
Moderator: Ebrahim Shemshadian
The AI Journey: The Adoption and Innovation in Structural Engineering
Speaker: Andrew Sundal, HGA Architects & Engineers
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has promised to change our world with the release of large language models (LLM) such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc. But how does this technology impact your firm now? How does this technology change the strategy of your practice? The NCSEA Foundation’s 2024-2025 Innovation in Structural Engineering Grant selected AI as the topic of research. This initiative seeks to uncover and support transformative advancements in AI that can shape the future of structural engineering. As a member of the grant team and a Minneapolis local, Andrew Sundal will present the team's 2024 findings, exploring how AI is influencing the field. He will delve into the practical applications of AI in current engineering practices, highlighting both the exciting opportunities and the limitations of integrating AI into real-world projects.
Integration of AI-Assisted Tools into Advanced Computational Modeling to Perform Structural Analysis of Old Masonry Buildings
Speaker: Bora Pulatsu, Carleton University
Deterioration in masonry buildings and cultural heritage is inevitable due to environmental factors and extreme loading conditions. However, with the implementation of cost-effective preventive maintenance, structural health monitoring and the application of robust computational modeling techniques for structural analysis and safety assessment, it is possible to conserve rapidly aging unreinforced brickwork and stone masonry buildings.
In this context, the present work aims to offer an innovative workflow for the structural analysis of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings by utilizing recent advances in computer vision techniques to create discontinuum-based computational models. The adopted modeling approach represents load-bearing masonry elements as a system of rigid blocks interacting with each other along their boundaries based on the point-contact hypothesis. At each point-contact among the adjacent blocks, bond behavior is simulated through cohesive constitutive law in tension and shear, while the phenomenological response of masonry composite is considered in compression. Special attention is given to the accurate representation of masonry construction technique and morphological features of masonry walls within the proposed modeling strategy. To this end, a novel data-driven structural analysis workflow is proposed in which artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted visual inspection is utilized for object identification and classification using vision-based resources such as images, videos, and live feeds. The system is powered by an object detection model trained from a dataset containing a collection of sample images with manually created annotations serving as ground truth data. A trained object detection model is used to identify objects of interest and perform instance classification. Through this process, important inferences are made regarding the masonry unit size distribution, bond pattern, and masonry quality index parameters that are directly used in the generation of the computational model, which is later utilized for nonlinear structural analysis.
Furthermore, the results of the advanced computational models are compared with the standard macro-block analysis adopting the upper-bound theorem of limit state analysis that is commonly used in practice. The proposed workflow for advanced structural simulation of masonry buildings is demonstrated on a two-storey stone masonry building. The outcomes highlight that the proposed data-driven structural analysis workflow enhances the capabilities of the up-to-date computational models and offers accurate predictions regarding the structural performance and capacity of analyzed URM buildings, which prevents the execution of unnecessary intervention plans or irreversible strengthening solutions.
February 4, 2025
Current Post-Disaster Structural Evaluations and a Look Forward
Speaker: Ed Huston; Huston Structural Engineering, PLLC
Moderator: Greg Mosier
The session will discuss some of the history of ATC training and its importance within the engineering community. Evaluation methodologies after wind, seismic and flood events will be covered. The seminar will conclude with a look forward through the FEMA P-2055 document.
February 11, 2025
Concrete Sustainability; Forming Concrete Elevated Structures
Moderator: Gordon Reigstad
Concrete Sustainability
Speaker: John Lee, Cemstone
Concrete is the second-most used material on the planet, behind water. The use of Portland cement is a necessary requirement in making concrete to function as intended. Unfortunately, the production of cement also produces a large quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2). This presentation will discuss strategies for reducing the amount of embodied CO2 within concrete. Mr. Lee will give an update in terms of the cements currently in use, how the cement industry is reducing embodied carbon, and what can be expected in the future. In addition, he will cover other existing and new material strategies that can be incorporated within concrete mixtures that reduce the embodied CO2, as well as how these material and mix design changes will affect costs, installation, and project schedules. Lastly, Mr. Lee will discuss Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are how they are determined and how they should be used on projects.
Forming Concrete Elevated Structures
Speaker: Ryan Brozek, Ceco
Learn how to design efficient formwork systems. Understand how different formwork systems work. Discover ways to improve productivity with formwork.
February 18, 2025
Masonry Through the Ages
Speaker: Peter M. Babaian, SE, PE, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Moderator: Jennifer Popehn
Take a journey of how masonry construction has changed over time, from the days of load-bearing, mass masonry construction through transitional masonry to today’s elegant structures clad with masonry for appearance and character. Over the course of the session, we will examine what is now often considered historic masonry construction – mass and transitional masonry – including how it is constructed, built, assessed, analyzed, deteriorates, and repaired. We will discuss the transition to veneer systems, which allowed masonry to continue to flourish as an exterior aesthetic as building design changed to lightweight cladding systems on structural skeletons, and the associated problems that come with masonry veneers. And we will finish with a discussion of today’s common construction of masonry veneers over wood framed structures that are designed to meet zoning ordinances, match aesthetics of the surrounding area, or project an upscale image.
February 25, 2025
Case Study: The Fern Hollow Bridge Collapse and Reconstruction
Speakers: Jason Fuller, PE; Kristin Langer, PE; Jonathan Moses, PE; Eric Setzler, PE; Shane Szalankiewicz, PE; Michael Szurley, PE; Doug Thompson, PE
Moderator: Arielle Ehrlich
This presentation will focus on the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) findings, inspection practices and asset management improvements, and lessons learned from the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse that occurred on January 28, 2022, within the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The team will also provide an overview of the post collapse collaboration which occurred between the City of Pittsburgh and PennDOT to quickly rebuild the Fern Hollow Bridge.
March 4, 2025
Analysis and Design of Nonbuilding Structures
Speaker: Tom Lorentz
Moderator: Alireza Mokhtarzadeh
This session is intended to provide the audience with a high-level introduction into some relevant design and analysis considerations when dealing with Nonbuilding Structures. In this presentation, the definition of Nonbuilding structures will be aligned with ASCE-7 terminology. Nonbuilding Structures are NOT considered to include vehicular bridges, electrical transmission towers, hydraulic structures (dams) or nuclear reactors. Nonbuilding Structures are broadly divided into two categories, those with structural systems similar to buildings, and those with structural systems not similar to buildings. The session will cover three design examples of Nonbuilding Structures. One example in which the structural system is similar to a building, and two cases where the structural system is unlike a building. The three examples are: a). Preliminary design of a steel pipe rack, including wind load analysis in accordance with “Wind Loads for Petrochemical and Other Industrial Facilities” – Published by ASCE. b). Wind load evaluation of self-supporting steel stack, in accordance with “Steel Stacks STS-1-2021”- Published by ASME. c). Seismic Design requirements for Aboveground Storage tank, in accordance with ”API Standard 650, Appendix E – Welded Tanks for Oil Storage” - Published by API.