Seismic Design

Seismic Design Team at a Glance:

The UC San Diego Seismic Design Team provides undergraduate students the opportunity to explore earthquake engineering through the design, build, and analysis of a 5-foot tall balsa wood model of a high-rise building. The project brings together engineering, architecture, finance, and other aspects reflected in real-world projects that encourage creative thinking and facilitate learning.

Team members are involved throughout the entire process from design, construction, analysis to competition. Workshops on AutoCAD, SAP2000/ETABs and Revit held by team leads help develop communication, morale and teamwork, and introduce new members to software programs used by the team. Construction is the most hands-on where members use cool machineries such as the laser cutter and electric saw and actually piece together the floor plans. The team encourages active participation and provides opportunities for members to understand the essential steps of the project.

Seismic Design Competition:

Every year, the team attends the Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition (SDC) hosted by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). The objective of the competition is to design and construct a lightweight tower that sustains minimal damage under earthquake loads, maximizes rentable floor area, and fulfills the additional guidelines provided by the EERI Student Leadership Council. These guidelines change annually based on the location of the competition in order to encourage practical and innovative ideas and to enrich the experiences of returning members. For the 2022 SDC (Salt Lake City), the team placed within the top 9 proposals and took 1st place for t-shirt design. In 2023 (San Francisco) and 2024 (Seattle), the team placed 5th out of 40+ teams in total. Additionally, the score was boosted by placing 3rd in technical presentation and 2nd in damper design.

The 2026 SDC will be hosted in the Portland, OR. As we await the rules for this year patiently, the team has been working hard to prepare for the year. In the meantime, lead members are learning new software to design and analyze our future skyscraper. Extra attention will be placed in designing both floor plans and lateral force-resisting systems to tackle the challenge of not only the decreased floor area, but also the possibility of torsional failure.