Professor Ronald Ziemian visits CIES
CIES hosted a visit by Professor Ronald Ziemian - Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, USA.
Professor Ron Ziemian received his BScE, MEng, and PhD degrees from Cornell University, and has authored numerous papers and two books on topics related to the analysis and design of metal structures. He is the editor of Guide to Stability Design Criteria for Metal Structures (6th Edition). Ron serves on the Specification Committees of both the American Institute of Steel Construction and the Aluminum Association and is active with the Steel Joist Institute. He has received the Norman Medal (1994) and the Shortridge Hardesty Award (2013) from the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the AISC Special Achievement Award (2006). He is also the recipient of Bucknell University’s Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence (2000), and was named the 2010 Bucknell University Presidential Professor. Professor Ziemian’s Teaching Specialties include: Steel Design; Finite Element / Matrix Structural Analysis; Numerical Methods; Engineering Mechanics; Structural Dynamics
Professor Ziemian's visit to CIES included a well attended seminar presentation “.”
In the latest edition of the American Institute of Steel Construction’s Specification for Structural Steel Buildings, the design provisions for employing inelastic analysis have been fully revised. The presentation began by providing an overview of the new opportunities these revisions present to engineers who want to take better advantage of nonlinear material behaviour. Of particular interest to the design profession is that certain levels of inelastic analysis may now be used in place of the specification’s design equations in confirming the adequacy of components and/or the structural system. With this in mind, and for all levels of analysis employed in the design process, the engineer must have a fundamental understanding of structural stability.
Given that sophisticated computer analysis software tools are only now becoming more readily available, the teaching and learning of structural stability has been and continues to be heavily rooted in the development and solution of the related differential equations. For many structural engineering students, who may not be well versed or interested in this level of math, basic structural stability concepts are not being learned because of their perception that an understanding of structural stability requires the ability to be proficient in solving differential equations. To compensate for this and given that in-class physical laboratory testing is often impractical, faculty often resort to descriptions of experimental tests and the results obtained. Although this is a significant step in the right direction, this passive learning approach is not ideal. With this in mind, Professor Ziemian has developed a series of nine stability learning modules that employ readily available and relatively easy to use nonlinear analysis software. The modules are quite useful in teaching stability of steel structures.
The presentation concluded with an overview of these modules, including their content, dissemination, and related instructional YouTube videos
