Structural Engineering
Structural Engineering
What gives an engineer confidence to project and build something as large and graceful as the Golden Gate Bridge (the creation of late Purdue professor Charles A. Ellis) knowing that it has to withstand the demands of gravity, wind, and earthquakes?
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California
Why did Gaudi think of the Sagrada Familia “upside-down” before he started building it?
The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain (inverted model on the left, actual structure on the right)
Who decides how much reinforcing steel goes into a reinforced concrete column supporting 100 floors in a skyscraper? And how do they make that decision?
How far apart can we place the supports of steel girders in our bridges?
If these questions spark your interest, if you would like to test to failure structural models in one of the largest laboratories in the country, then structural engineering is the right career choice for you. Join Purdue’s School Civil Engineering and enroll in structural engineering courses to leave a mark that will benefit and inspire many, and last the test of time as the Golden Gate has.
Spotlights
August 2, 2018
Mohammad Jahanshahi, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, was awarded the 2017 Kobori Prize recognizing the best paper published in Structural Control and Health Monitoring (SCHM).
April 12, 2018
Mete A. Sözen, Karl H. Kettelhut Distinguished Professor, Emeritus of Civil Engineering, Purdue University died unexpectedly on April 5, 2018, just a few weeks before what would have been his 88th birthday. Mete was in London, England, with his wife Joan visiting their daughter Ayshe and two grandsons when he fell peacefully to sleep. For all of us who knew Mete, this marked the end of an era. Few people have guided and nurtured a field the way Mete led earthquake and structural engineering related to reinforced concrete systems over a period spanning six decades. He had a profound effect on many people and will long be remembered fondly by those who came into contact with him during his career. A celebration of Dr. Sözen's career in teaching will take place on October 11th as the last seminar in The Art of Teaching | Engineering Art series. Dr. Polat Gülkan will deliver the seminar, to which all family, alumni, friends and colleagues are invited to attend and share memories of Dr. Sözen.
December 22, 2017
A team in earthquake-prone Seattle is daring to deliver an 850-ft-tall "proof of concept" for a composite structural-steel frame, instead of a steel frame around a reinforced concrete core. The $570-million Rainier Square Tower project is the culmination of three decades of exploration into composite steel structures for CE alumnus Ron Klemencic, with research being conducted at Bowen Laboratory since 2006.
November 7, 2017
A system under development at Purdue University uses artificial intelligence to detect cracks captured in videos of nuclear reactors and represents a future inspection technology to help reduce accidents and maintenance costs.
October 25, 2017
Robert Frosch, Professor of Civil Engineering, has been named Editor-in-Chief of the ACI Structural Journal Editorial Board. The ACI Structural Journal has been publishing research on the design of structural concrete from many of the brightest minds in the concrete industry since ACI began publishing journals back in December 1912.
October 16, 2017
Robert J. Connor, Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of CAI and S-BRITE, has been selected as the winner of the 2018 AISC T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award. Presented annually, the award recognizes a lecturer and author whose technical paper or papers, published during the eligibility period, are considered an outstanding contribution to engineering literature on fabricated structural steel.
September 15, 2017
Robert Connor, Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of CAI and S-BRITE, has been named Distinguished Alumnus at his alma mater of Lehigh University, where he completed his M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering.
September 15, 2017
Julio Ramirez, Professor of Civil Engineering and NHERI-NCO Center Director, is among 25 Purdue innovators inducted into this year's Purdue Innovator Hall of Fame by the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization.
April 11, 2017
Dr. Shirley Dyke, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering, was presented with the 2017 CE Outstanding Mentor of Engineering Graduate Students Award at a reception on April 10th hosted by the Civil Engineering Graduate Student Advisory Council.
March 31, 2017
Shirley Dyke and Chul Min Yeum are the first to combine computer vision and deep-learning technologies for rapid assessment of structural wreckage.
March 27, 2017
Robert J. Connor, Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the S-BRITE Center, has been selected to receive the 2017 George S. Richardson Medal. The Richardson Medal recognizes a single, recent outstanding achievement in bridge engineering.
February 24, 2017
On January 20th, 2017 a top tension chord of the Delaware River Turnpike Bridge was discovered to be completely fractured. On the morning of the 21st, Dr. Robert J. Connor, Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the S-BRITE Center was called by engineering consultants working for the PA and NJ Turnpikes to assist in the failure investigation and to help develop immediate inspection and long-term retrofit strategies.
February 17, 2017
A new automated system detects cracks in the steel components of nuclear power plants and has been shown to be more accurate than other automated systems.
December 22, 2016
Amit Varma, Professor of Civil Engineering, has been selected to receive the 2017 Special Achievement Award from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). This award provides special recognition to individuals who demonstrated particular achievements in structural steel education.
December 21, 2016
On 9 December 2016, civil engineering students represented Purdue in the 10th International Bridge Contest. The team consisted of undergraduate students Daixi Yang, Sijia Wang, Ziyu Liu, Cheng Qian, Scott Houldieson (not pictured), and graduate students Aishwarya Puranam and William Pollalis. Support for the team was provided by Prof. Santiago Pujol and his post-doc, Lucas Laughery.
October 4, 2016
According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Ames Construction has donated portions of steel from the old Dresbach Bridge to Purdue's Steel Bridge Research, Inspection, Training, and Engineering (S-BRITE) Center, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
August 20, 2016
Feature article from WBAA with Lyles School of Civil Engineering Professor and S-BRITE Director Robert Connor and LTAP Research Manager Pat Conner about our school's effort to improve bridge inspection.
July 27, 2016
CE grad student Andres Rondon has been awarded first place in the 24th Rudy Scavuzzo Student Paper Symposium and Competition at the 50th Anniversary of the ASME Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference, held in July 2016 in Vancouver, Canada.
July 18, 2016
CE grad students Alana Wilbee and Ghazi Binarandi had the opportunity to travel to the U.K. to participate in the 2016 Asia-Pacific-Euro Summer School on Smart Structures Technology, held at Cambridge University from June 24 - July 13. Professor Shirley Dyke was an invited speaker.
May 11, 2016
Civil Engineering graduate student Aishwarya Puranam has been selected to receive the ACI Presidents' Fellowship for the 2016-2017 academic year.
