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Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) July Technical Seminars

Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) Technical Seminar Topics & Speakers for the Dallas / Fort Worth Joint Meeting

Time: 9:00am - 9:50am

Topic: Cowboys Stadium - World's Longest Single-Span Roof - The 14,100-ton, structural steel, domed roof is supported by two 17-foot-wide by 35-foot-deep arch box trusses spanning 1,225 feet. The 660,800-square-foot retractable roof features a 256-feet wide by 410-feet long roof opening. It has the first application of a rack-and-pinion retractable roof drive system in North America that opens and closes the bi-parting roof panels in less than 12 minutes. Both end zones feature 180-foot-wide by 120-foot-high glass operable doors that open in 18 minutes, and the stadium is a leader in environmental performance. Cowboys Stadium was named "Sports Facility of the Year" by Sports Business Journal and has won countless engineering design awards.

Speaker: Joseph Dowd P.E. - Walter P Moore

Joseph Dowd, P.E. has a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University and a Master of Science from the University of Texas at Austin.  He has been employed by Walter P Moore for over 13 years where he is currently a Principal and the Office Design Manager for the Dallas Office.  Dowd has spent several years of his career working with AT&T Stadium – building and maintaining the SAP model of the stadium’s roof, performing full-time on-site representation duties during construction of the stadium’s roof, and managing the on-going changes to the stadium that never seem to end.

Time: 10:00am - 10:50am

Topic: Structural Stability & Fatigue

Speaker: Todd Helwig, PhD - University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Helwig researches the design, behavior and stability of steel structures. Specifically, he studies stability bracing behavior of steel buildings, bridges and curved box girders. Some of his current work is targeted at improving bracing details for steel bridge girders to improve the cost-effectiveness and long-term behavior of steel bridges. These studies rely on both traditional bracing consisting of cross-frames as well as permanent metal deck forms that are not historically used as bracing in bridge systems. He is also currently investigating the effects of pre-existing imperfections in components and temperature changes on the structural behavior of steel structures.

 Time: 11:00am - 11:50am

Topic: Structural - Fire Engineering - On May 13, 2008, a fire occurred at the Faculty of Architecture Building at the Technical University at Delft in the Netherlands. The fire started in a coffee vending machine on the 6th floor of the 13-story reinforced concrete building, spread rapidly, and ultimately led to the collapse of a major portion of the building. This event represented a rare opportunity to study the collapse of a major reinforced concrete building in fire. Data was collected on this fire event by an international team that included researchers from the U.S. and the Netherlands. The data collection effort was followed by a preliminary structural analysis to identify possible contributing causes to the structural collapse. This presentation will provide an overview of this fire event, a description of the structural system of the building, and results of preliminary analysis of structural response to the fire. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of broader lessons learned on structural fire safety from this event.

Speaker: Michael Engelhardt, PhD - University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Michael D. Engelhardt is Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana, and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Dr. Engelhardt has been on the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin since 1989. His research interests are in the areas of seismic-resistant design of steel structures, steel and composite bridges, and structural-fire engineering.  He serves as a member of the AISC Committee on Specifications, the AISC Seismic Specification Committee, and the AISC Connection Prequalification Review Panel. He has been a recipient of the T.R. Higgins Award for outstanding contributions in structural steel research, and of the Engineering News Record Construction Industry Newsmaker Award.  He is a registered Professional Engineer in Texas and California.

The cost to attend one of the concurrent technical seminars OR the ethics seminar is $10 in addition to the cost of the main luncheon.  The cost to attend the technical seminars AND the ethics seminar is $15 in addition to the cost of the main luncheon.