Structural Earthquake Stability Competition 6.0 (SES-VI)
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| 15 February 2020 |
written on March 22, 2022
My competition journey in university started with SES and also ended with SES. Yes, here I am again. This was my last competition during my university years. I would like to express my gratitude to my mentor for believing in me and still choosing me for this competition even though I had never won before. 2020 was a special year. It was the year that the Covid-19 outbreak started in Malaysia. Fortunately, this competition was held before MCO. If not, I probably won't have the chance to join this competition again. SES-VI was quite similar to SES-V. We needed to prepare one A2 size poster and present our design concept in addition to constructing a tower model. For the tower model, it was more challenging as a tower crane was included. Basically, we were required to construct 2 structures within the same specified time as in the past competitions.
Overview of SES-VI
Overview of SES-VI
Structural Earthquake Stability 6.0 (SES-VI) was a competition of designing and constructing a building model, which aimed to resist the simulated earthquakes generated by the shaking table. It was organised by the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Student Chapters of The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), in collaboration with Lee Kong Chain Faculty of Engineering and Science’s (LKC FES) Department of Civil Engineering. This year, SES-VI was sponsored by NS BlueScope Lysaght Malaysia Sdn Bhd. It was held at UTAR Sungai Long Campus on 15 February 2020.
The objectives of the competition were to promote the study of earthquake engineering among undergraduate students and provide civil engineering undergraduate students with an opportunity to work on a hands-on project designing and constructing a cost-effective frame building to resist seismic loading.
SES-VI was an international event as it involved the participation of higher learning institutions from Singapore. A total of 31 teams from 16 higher learning institutions participated in SES-VI, including two teams from Singapore and one team from East Malaysia. The participating higher learning institutions were Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), MAHSA University, Manipal International University, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah (PSAS), Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah (PSIS), and Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah (PSA).
The theme of SES-VI was “Seismic Resistance during Construction Phase” with the assigned building features that comprised an apartment residence and lobby. In order to increase the challenge and interest of this competition, a Skywalk and Tower Crane were also required in the design. On the day of competition, each team of 3-5 undergraduate students was given 3.5 hours to construct and design a building model by using the materials provided by the organiser. Upon the completion of model construction, the models were tested on the shaking table. The artificial earthquakes with various intensities were generated. There were a total of 7 levels that will be tested and the testing duration for each level was 45 seconds.
The materials and tools provided by the organiser on the day of competition were shown as below:
16 x Balsa wood
(3 x 3 x 1000mm)
2 x Mounting board
(A3 size)
1 x Structure base
(280 x 260 x 10mm)
2 x Super glue
(20gm)
1 x Sandpaper
(A4 size)
For the placement of weights, loadings were placed on the building model, skywalk and crane at the critical points to test for better model strength and sustainability during an earthquake especially during the construction phase. 400 g of load was placed on the highest floor, 600 g of loads for 2nd highest floor, 300 g of loads for 4th highest floor and 300 g for skywalk. For tower crane, 150 g of hanging load was hung at the end of the hanging load section of the cantilever arm while the load for counterweight was optional. The participating team can choose one of the following loads for the counterweight, namely 0 g, 50 g, 100 g, 150 g or 200 g. A penalty of additional loads will be charged based on the violation of rules.
Similar to SES-V, each participating team was required to bring along one A2 size poster and present the concept of their designed model on the day of competition. The presentation commenced with the model construction simultaneously. Only one member from each team was allowed to deliver the presentation to the judges within 4 minutes.
Feature of the Model
Feature of the Model
Model specifications
A complete structure must consist of at least ONE level of commercial floor, a tower crane on top of the commercial floor and at least FIVE levels of residential floor with beams, columns and slabs in each level. The top residential floor must consist of a skywalk, complete with beam and slab.
The residential floor must have more than 4 edges/sides/faces.
The commercial floor must have more than 4 edges/sides/faces.
The inner and outer beams of the skywalk must consist of more than 2-line segments.
The width of the entire skywalk must be at least 4 cm clearance for the loading placement.
The minimum required floor height for residential floor is 8 cm whereas the commercial floor is 12 cm.
The cross-section of the vertical body of tower crane must be square in shape with a maximum dimension of 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm.
Setback is required for the residential floor. Each floor area of the residential floors must not be larger than 40% of the area of each commercial floor
The crane must be placed on the roof of the commercial floor.
The crane must be placed between the building structure and the skywalk with a 1.5 cm gap.
The cantilever arm must ONLY be supported by the vertical body.
The length of the hanging load section of the cantilever arm must exceed the commercial floor area to provide service throughout the building.
The length of the hanging load section must have at least 1.5 times to the length of the counterweight section.
The cantilever arm of the crane must be at least 7 cm above the roof of the residential.
The base of the model must be within 20 cm Ă— 20 cm square.
The base of the model must cover an area of 8 cm x 8 cm.
My Story
My Story
Our team was called Volcom, which was made up of students from Years 1, 2 and 3. The team members were different from last time except for me and my team leader. Our biggest concern for this competition was the timing issue caused by the additional tower crane. Therefore, we had to work well together and make sure we could complete our model within the specified time.
Before competition
The tower crane construction consumed a fair amount of balsa woods, hence we took a lot of time to discuss how to save the usage of balsa woods for the tower model. The shapes and dimensions of the residential floor and skywalk were the topics that we discussed the most. We had a practice session prior to the competition. During practice, we were unable to complete our model within 3.5 hours. However, thanks to past experiences, we avoided some unnecessary mistakes which helped us save some time.
For the poster preparation, we analysed our tower model using SAP2000 and included that analysis information in our poster. Besides that, we tested our model the day before departing to Sungai Long. Before leaving Perlis, we wanted to buy masks as that was the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia. Everyone must wear a mask at all times when going out. At the time, we went to several pharmacies and the masks were all sold out. Fortunately, my faculty had some in stock. After taking the masks, we started our 6 hours journey to our destination.
The day of competition
The participating teams were divided into Zone A and Zone B. Our group was group 11 in Zone B. During the competition, everyone was required to wear a mask throughout the competition to avoid the spread of Covid-19. This time, I presented our design concept to the judges on behalf of my team during the competition. I was very nervous about the whole process, but thankfully I did it. We also successfully completed our model before time's up. Before that, we were worried that we would not be able to finish our model on time and would be disqualified. Thankfully, this didn't happen to us.
The next session was the model testing. Since this was my last SES competition, my team leader asked me to represent our team to test our model in the lab. Previously, it was done by the team leader. I would like to thank my team leader for giving me this opportunity. When I stepped into the lab, I can feel the atmosphere in the lab was completely different from that in the hall. This was my first time putting the loads on the tower model. I was so nervous at that moment, my hands were shaking when I put all the loads on them. I was worried that the tower model will collapse when I put the loads. It was also the first time I have witnessed our tower model being tested on the shaking table in front of me. It was a completely different feeling than when I watched it live on a screen in the hall before. I can even feel the vibration from the shaking table.
Again, we didn't win the competition. Our tower model only managed to sustain up to level 5. Same result as the past SES competitions. The winner was judged based on stability, cost and time efficiency and presentation. We were 14th out of 31 teams. Although we didn't get any awards, we scored full marks for the cost criteria. In other words, our tower model was the lightest among the 31 teams.
Before ending this post, I would like to thank the organiser for organising this competition, especially during the pandemic. It was not easy. Last but not least, I want to express my sincere appreciation to all the team members who have worked with me in previous competitions and also my mentors. Because of them, my university life has become more interesting and meaningful. I will definitely miss those moments.
Team VOLCOM
Team VOLCOM
unit: mm
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Photo
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posted on March 23, 2022 | 16:24 PM
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