Extreme Loading & Structural Resilience

This subject is aimed at teaching the scientific principles associated with extreme events including that of earthquakes, impact, blast and cyclonic wind and their effects on a structure. Students will also be trained to make effective use of state-of-the-art techniques in quantifying the effects of the design actions in order that suitable level of protection can be incorporated into the structure to counter an extreme event. At the conclusion of this subject students should be capable of modelling a variety of extreme loadings by employing advanced techniques. Students will also be able to apply the modelling methodologies to fulfil performance based design objectives. Improved proficiencies in countering extreme loading in the design of structures will achieve better economy and a more sustainable built environment. This subject builds on students’ fundamental knowledge of engineering mathematics, mechanics and structural analysis. With frequency of extreme events increasing due to climate change, increased mass and speed of vehicles and terrorism, this subject provides graduates with specialist knowledge to work in the field of hazard reduction or avoidance under the guidance of a chartered engineer.

• 1Demonstrate the ability to describe the effects of a range of extreme transient actions (including earthquake ground shaking, accidental impact, blast and strong wind) on a structure and their implications on structural design
• 2Use hand calculation methods to estimate the effects of the listed extreme transient actions and be able to correctly interpret results and identify their limitations
• 3Apply numerical techniques with the use of EXCEL spreadsheets as a generic tool to model the effects of transient actions on a building structure for benchmarking results generated from a commercial computational package
• 4Assess the output to these models to inform the design process for safety and serviceability, and apply the learnt analysis techniques to ensure compliance with performance based design criteria.