Directions in Engineering Research An Assessment of Opportunities and Needs (1987) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
3. Construction and Structural Design Systems Research in the United States: An Overview
3. Construction and Structural Design Systems Research in the United States: An Overview
Pages 115-141
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 115... ...
The question of the adequacy of new research talent is also explored. It is found that, overall, the supply of research-oriented graduates is sufficient to carry out the current level of research.
|
From page 116... ...
mixed structural systems (involving the use of a combination of structural materials e.g., structural steed and reinforced concrete acting together to resist Toads)
|
From page 117... ...
More students especially U.S. residents must be attracted into the high-technology aspects of construction and structural engineering research.
|
From page 118... ...
construction robotics extending and expanding the functions and capabilities of industrial robots to meet the needs of the construction environment; . computer-aided design—achieving the potential that computer-aided design offers for structural design in such areas as improving nonlinear behavior and analysis, modeling geometrical complexity, enabling better coordination of analysis and experiment, improving realism in design analysis, advancing interactive computer graphics, and extending computer-aided design through the fabrication phase; rapid excavation increasing the speed of tunneling and improving the systems by which ground is classified; mixed construction—improving our basic understanding of the characteristics and uses of mixed construction (especially reinforced concrete in various combinations with structural steel)
|
From page 119... ...
In addition, there are only a handful of construction research centers in the United-States, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Construction Engineering Research Laboratory and Waterways Experiment Station at Vicksburg, Mississippi; the National Bureau of Standards' Center for Building Technology at Gaithersburg, Maryland; and the U.S.
|
From page 120... ...
This facility is reported to have cost in excess of $200 million. It is anticipated that construction research carried out in these two Japanese facilities will have an important influence on the construction industry in Japan, as well as on the field of structural engineering generally.*
|
From page 121... ...
Achievements were recorded by individuals in universities or private practice out of intellectual curiosity, as part of the expected work of a professor, or in pursuit of a potentially profitable idea. After that time, industry took a greater interest through trade and professional associations such as the Reinforced Concrete Research Council, the Welding Research Council, the Structural Stability Research Council, the American Iron and Steel Institute, the American Institute of Steel Construction, the Prestressed Concrete Institute, and the Portland Cement Association.
|
From page 122... ...
Moreover, the structural design of mechanical devices for operation under severe environments and loading conditions has spawned research with a beneficial side-effect on structural design related to civil engineering construction. This panel has, for the most part, limited its attention to the traditional applications of structural design; it has also sought, however, to identify research issues and directions that are broadly applicable to structural engineering.
|
From page 123... ...
It should be emphasized, however, that the mission agencies have demonstrated the effectiveness of their support of construction research especially in the case of projects whose success depended on the field experience and data collection opportunities that can be found only on-site. Results from these research projects eventually had, in many cases, a strong impact on prevailing construction procedures.
|
From page 124... ...
Civil engineering is the primary discipline from which researchers and practitioners in this field are drawn. Undergraduate enrollments in civil engineering have been declining, relative to virtually all other branches of engineering, for the past 10 years.
|
From page 125... ...
It can be said that, as a result of this increase and the decrease in undergraduate enrollments, the "crisis" seen in other fields (e.g., electrical engineering) with regard to the number of Ph.D.s available for research and teaching is not present in civil engineering.
|
From page 126... ...
There is a predominance of foreign graduate students in the current enrollment profile. Indeed, such students are even more prevalent in civil engineering because of the significant role that this field plays in less developed countries, which are the main source of foreign graduate students.
|
From page 127... ...
It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a niche of academic respectability for education and research in construction. A lack of understanding of the realities of design and construction and submission to the prevailing mores of the institution on the part of civil engineering faculties both seem to be at fault.
|
From page 128... ...
It is generally viewed either as "computer sciences research disguised as civil engineering or as a practical development not worthy of research. Some components of construction and structural engineering research are relatively healthy.
|
From page 129... ...
This ~can-do" attitude of the profession is admirable, but it contains little sentiment for research. In general, the public is ambivalent toward structural engineering and construction.
|
From page 130... ...
In the future, Japanese manufacturers of homes, using automated methods and new materials, may aggressively pursue the home construction market in the United States. The emergence of a highly competitive global market in construction, based
|
From page 131... ...
From its own deliberations, and taking these suggestions into consideration, the panel identified the following major thrusts: construction robotics; computer-aided design; rapid excavation; onyxes construction; and marine construction. The rationale for these thrusts, along with their detailed features, is presented in the following discussion.
|
From page 132... ...
phase will be to investigate the feedback from such tools that is, to develop modified design concepts and methods, as well as new construction materials and methods, that exploit the radically new construction processes that can be provided by robotics. COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN The phrase "computer-aided designs has been used so widely and loosely of late that it is now almost a cliche.
|
From page 133... ...
The following discussion emphasizes engineering research. Computer-aided design in structural engineering extends from a computerized sketch pad (a digitizing tablet and a dynamic graphics screen that an engineer and his client can use in exploring concepts and schemes)
|
From page 134... ...
Probability theory must be brought to bear. Much of what is required can be described as computer-aided design research in which a comprehensive view of the whole analysis/design process is taken including the facts that certain types of design procedures go with certain types of analyses and that applied loads and the resistance of the constructed structure may not be completely independent variables.
|
From page 135... ...
Fabrication Carrying computer-aided design through fabrication (the structural engineering equivalent of manufacturing) is another vita]
|
From page 136... ...
In other cases, fiber-reinforced concrete is extruded, or shotcrete applied, by a robot Gun. In order to develop such a classification system, a major research effort is needed, entailing contributions by university labm ratories, engineering geologists, and machinery manufacturers and *
|
From page 137... ...
It is being used in new, innovative ways in high-rise buildings, bridges, and offshore structures to take advantage of the best attributes of both reinforced concrete and structural steel. Mixed construction possesses structural efficiency and economy, versatility, as well as structural stiffness and flexibility (in both the structural and architectural senses)
|
From page 138... ...
development of a superior, rational design method for steelconcrete composite columns, such as the Structural Stability Research Council Subcommittee's method. In addition, the durability of steel and concrete as construction materials requires research attention.
|
From page 139... ...
the extension of drilling techniques for placing pipelines and cables through the surf zone; . material and structure problems of special concern in marine construction, such as the behavior of confined concrete under overload and the response of structures to impact loads from ship collisions and ice; and .
|
From page 140... ...
Whereas most of the responses addressed priority research needs, several respondents did reflect on policy issues. Although many of the research needs and issues of policy and health addressed by the respondents were similar to those noted by pane} members, the broadened perspective provided by the responses to the survey was most beneficial in the panel's deliberations.
|
From page 141... ...
CONSTRUCTION AND STRUCTURAL DESIGN SYSTEMS TABLE A-1 Organizations Responding to Information Requests Relevant to Construction and Structural Design Systems Research UNIVERSITIES Clarkson University Cornell University Duke University Illinois Institute of Technology Lehigh University North Carolina State University Northwestern University Old Dominion University Princeton University Purdue University Texas A&M University University of California, Los Angeles University of Hawaii University of Houston University of Illinois—Urbana/ Champaign University of Kansas University of Michigan University of Minnesota University of Oklahoma University of Pennsylvania University of Texas at Austin PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics American Institute of Chemical Engineers American Society of Civil Engineers American Society of Mechanical Engineers Institute of Industrial Engineers Industrial Research Institute Society of Engineering Science, Inc. AGENCIES AND LABORATORIES Air Force Institute of Technology Air Force Office of Scientific Research Army Materials and Mechanical Research Center Brookha~ren National Laboratory NASA Goddard Space Flight Center NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA Langley Research Center Office of Naval Research Oak Ridge National Laboratory 141
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.