Edmond P. Saliklis

Finite-Element Limit Analysis of the Tucker High School Gymnasium Roof Failure

Peter T. Laursen et al. — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:39:48 PDT

The Randolph Tucker High School gymnasium roof failure of 1970 has received much scholarly attention. This study will provide a conclusion to a large body of previously published works by means of limit state analysis of the roof failure using state of the art parametric finite-element modeling. Parametric modeling within a general purpose finite-element analysis program allows for extremely rapid changes to the model because key terms are objects or parameters that can be adjusted internally by the program, rather than laboriously entered by the user. The failure of the roof was investigated by means of a limit state analysis, which accurately captured the cracking of the concrete and the yielding of the reinforcing steel. Concrete creep and shrinkage and relaxation of the prestressing steel were also accounted for. Finally, the authors also studied the idea that camber in the roof geometry might have prevented collapse.

Myron Goldsmith: The Development of the Diagonally Braced Tube

Marc J. Neveu et al. — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:21:04 PDT

Myron Goldsmith (1918-96) was a unique figure in the development of tall building design. He successfully blended the roles of architect, engineer and teacher throughout his tenure at Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) and in the Department of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Indeed, many of the projects supervised by Goldsmith and his colleagues, to include the pre-eminent structural engineer Dr. Fazlur Khan (1929-82), directly influenced built work. The few published studies of Goldsmith acknowledge, but do not fully explore, the innovations that Goldsmith oversaw as thesis advisor to many graduate students at IIT in the 1960s. An essential link between the student work and the large-scale office projects at SOM were the “Saturday Sessions.” There, architects, engineers and students met for weekly reviews at IIT and then a lengthy and lively lunch at Bertucci’s restaurant in Chicago. Goldsmith encouraged the free exchange of scholarly and practical ideas during these Saturday Sessions and we argue that this was a vital part of Goldsmith’s pedagogy. This paper will focus on a fascinating network of students, architects, and engineers that led to the innovation of the diagonally braced tube tall building.

The Structure of a Story

Pamalee Brady et al. — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:27:29 PST

The stories of engineering heroes can serve as an exciting means of engaging young students in engineering concepts that are linked to their math and science curriculum. This research explores the development of a storytelling framework including the story of an engineer, a hands-on activity for exploring a related engineering idea, reinforcement of standard math and science curriculum and assessment of the effectiveness of the storytelling medium to teach and inspire young students. Storytelling principles are used to develop these narratives into compelling and engaging stories through the perspective of an individual character. Archival and other scholarly materials on fascinating figures in engineering are used to construct the stories. Following the story, a hands-on activity supports the exploration of the engineering concept related to the engineer's story. A pre- and post-story test are used to assess the effectiveness of the story and activity to learn about what engineers do, and the specific engineering idea.

Finite Element Modeling of Guastavino Tiled Arches

Edmond P. Saliklis et al. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:10:50 PDT

An investigation of Rafael Guastavino's arches has been conducted by means of finite element modeling and laboratory experimentation. A novel method of modeling laminated masonry tile construction via the finite element method has been devised. This technique takes advantage of the layered shell element features found in commercially available finite element programs. Historical Guastavino tiles have been tested to obtain material properties. These modem techniques have been employed in conjunction with Guastavino's original empirical design criteria to provide a better understanding of these historically significant structures.

Teaching Architects and Engineers: Up and Down the Taxonomy

Edmond P. Saliklis et al. — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:23:49 PDT

Engineering faculty and Architecture faculty both address student learning through the prism of Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain, but do so in diametrically opposite manners. Engineering faculty tend to assess student learning starting at the lowest taxonomy level, Acquisition of Knowledge, and progress in their curriculum and courses to the higher levels of Synthesis and Evaluation. Compare this to a studio environment in an undergraduate Architecture curriculum, where the faculty often begin with the highest levels, such as Evaluation in applying value judgments about the adequacy of the design and Synthesis, by putting disparate pieces of information together, and Analysis in solving large complex problems by reducing them to smaller pieces. Thus, the paper’s hypothesis is that Engineering faculty typically move up Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain, whereas Architecture faculty typically move down the taxonomy.

The implications of this hypothesis are interesting from both a pedagogical and practical point of view. Can we learn from each other and benefit from each other’s experience? Can we aid the students who seek larger global understanding, yet are often discouraged during their preliminary acquisition of fundamental factual knowledge?

This paper explores this thesis by studying the literature surrounding the Cognitive Domain in both Civil Engineering and Architecture, and gives some suggestions for providing engineering students with more opportunities to explore higher levels on Bloom’s taxonomy in the undergraduate curriculum.

Empirical Prediction of Shear Modulus and Young's Modulus of Plywood Panels

Edmond P. Saliklis et al. — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:25:34 PST

Correlating Off-Axis Tension Tests To Shear Modulus of Wood-Based Panels

Edmond P. Saliklis et al. — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:11:30 PST

The weakness of existing relationships correlating off-axis modulus of elasticity E to shear modulus G12 for wood composite panels is demonstrated through presentation of extensive experimental data. A new relationship is proposed that performs better than existing equations found in the literature. This relationship can be manipulated to calculate the shear modulus G12 of orthotropic specimens such as wood-based panels solely from off-axis tension (or compression) tests. The proposed relationship reduces to classical theory for the isotropic case. In all cases tested, the newly proposed relationship is a better fit to the data than the traditional orthotropic elasticity equation.

Hershey Arena: Anton Tedesko’s Pioneering Form

Edmond P. Saliklis et al. — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:11:07 PST

Civil engineering structures are part of our cultural heritage. The story of who we are can be told, in part, by what we have built. There have been pivotal moments in civil engineering design history wherein a master engineer creates a pioneering structure. One major example is Anton Tedesko’s 1936 Hershey Ice Arena, the first large-scale thin shell concrete roof in the United States. Tedesko left all his papers, including the original design and analysis calculations of the Hershey shell, to the Princeton Maillart Archives. These documents, as well as other archival materials and photographs, provide insight into the design history of Hershey, and the transfer of thin shell technology to America. In this paper, we retrace the design and analysis calculations performed by Tedesko, and compare them to modern computer models. We show that the hand calculations are sufficiently accurate, and in fact are necessary for initial form finding. We close by pointing out the enormous impact that this design had in thin shell concrete construction, and argue for the preservation of this remarkable structure.

Tedesko’s Philadelphia Skating Club: Refinement of an Idea

Edmond P. Saliklis et al. — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:10:52 PST

This paper presents new aspects of Anton Tedesko’s design for an important thin shell concrete roof. The study of this roof results from the examination of original engineering drawings and calculations which we present with the goal of promoting a greater understanding of the structural design of a major figure in the tradition of 20th century building.

Simplicity, Scale, and Surprise: Evaluating Structural Form

Edmond P. Saliklis et al. — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:10:33 PST

Aesthetic and ethical issues of building design are presented here to encourage meaningful discussion among today’s architectural engineering students and practitioners. The evaluative aesthetic ideas of scale, simplicity, and surprise are applied to two important structures designed by Fazlur R. Khan. Khan’s profound understanding of load flow in his buildings influenced his aesthetic ideas. Furthermore, his aesthetic ideas were intimately intertwined with his ethical ideas about structural logic and the role of structure in architecture. We explore these ideas and present new insights as well. Our goal is to encourage a public discourse within our profession on the topic of evaluating structural form.

"Putting a Fence Around" Architectural Engineering Undergraduate Research Projects

Edmond P. Saliklis — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:59:36 PST

The purpose of this paper is to provide practical suggestions of how to design and most importantly, how to limit the scope of proposed projects such that that an architectural engineering student can successfully participate in undergraduate research. Throughout the paper, the pedagogical benefits of such research projects will be emphasized. This paper will provide ideas and encouragement to faculty who may be hesitant to undertake research with undergraduate students. The paper closes with several successful case studies.

Evaluating Structural Form: Is it sculpture, architecture or structure?

Edmond P. Saliklis — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:59:33 PST

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the idea of a continuum between sculpture form, architectural form and structural form. A linkage between the various forms will be proposed, and several scholarly views on this subject will be presented. Then, this paper will describe a brief web-based survey which tested people’s subjective categorization of various sculptural, architectural and structural forms. The target audience of the web-based survey was college students interested in building design and high school students. Finally, this paper will analyze whether or not presenting the respondents with the idea of a proposed continuum between such forms left a lasting impression on them.

Four Research Projects, One “Green” Theme

Edmond P. Saliklis — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:59:29 PST

The purpose of this paper is to suggest ways that faculty can motivate students to do research through the timely and important issue of sustainable or “green” materials in architectural engineering. This paper will briefly describe four research projects undertaken by seniors in our architectural engineering department. Following these descriptions will be a series of pros and cons that the author has detected while mentoring these projects. Suggestions for best practices will then be presented as well as a discussion of how we assessed these projects. Finally, one of the research projects will be highlighted, with the goal of demonstrating how the student was motivated, and how the project was guided.

Arch Building for Kids: What Did They Learn? What Did We Learn?

Edmond P. Saliklis — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:59:24 PST

This paper will describe a teaching module that several senior architectural engineering students developed as their senior project. The teaching module targeted 5th or 6th grade students with the goal of creating an engineering outreach program that demonstrated a structural mechanics concept in a fun and interesting manner. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rationale behind the teaching module, and to document the changes we made to the module as we assessed its impact over several trial runs.