The Cal Seismic Team competed against 33 other teams in the EERI 2016 Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition on April 5-8. They placed 2nd overall, just missing the 1st place finish that went to Technical University of Cluj Napoca. See results.
The team was pleased with their 1st place in the Analysis Predictions category, as they really worked to improve in this area from last year.
But the big win was receiving the Degenkolb Structural Innovation Award, which is given to the team that makes the best use of technology or structural design to resist seismic loading.
They received the Degenkolb for their model's innovative column design and low construction weight.
"Going for a model with an extremely low weight was our secret strategy this year," said Lillian Fan, Project Manager.
"We optimized our design to use extremely thin, small pieces (such as braces that were 1/16" thick) while maintaining the structural strength of the building. Our building weight came out to a mere 0.95 lb!"
To give an idea of how light that is, the previous 2 models from 2014 and 2015 came out to be 3.40 lb, and 1.85 lb, respectively. Reducing the weight is a way to reduce the construction cost as well as the seismic cost, giving the team an advantage score-wise.
"It also gave us a fun challenge that kept us on our toes and stretched us in terms of quality control, scheduling, and communication," said Fan.
The judges and other teams were surprised to see that Berkeley's <1 lb building was not only able to survive, but that it could perform extremely well throughout the ground motions.
"We were very nervous for the shaking due to our crazy low weight, but when it came to shake day, we knew we had it in the bag," said Fan.
See Cal Seismic put their model to the Ground Motion 3 Test (the earthquake that typically breaks buildings).
Go Seismic! Go Bears!