Showing posts with label science/engineering articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science/engineering articles. Show all posts
Monday, November 11, 2013
Duke students engineering with Metamaterials
Saw a great article today about using metamaterials to convert microwaves to electricity in a student project at Duke University.
Metamaterials are what you have heard the club President talk about in conjunction with his internship in a chemistry lab that is part of an FSU research consortium that involves physics, chemistry, and chemical engineering faculty.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Info about National Concrete Canoe results
FYI, my Dad sent me a link to the American Society of Civil Engineers 2011 Concrete Canoe results.
The article includes a nice photo gallery showing the different canoes entered in the competition as well as the winners.
The article includes a nice photo gallery showing the different canoes entered in the competition as well as the winners.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
TV Programming Note
This morning's newspaper reports that the National Geographic Channel will carry a one-hour program about the I-35 bridge replacement in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that was led by Tallahassee's world famous Figg Engineering Group. It will follow this "design build" project from concept to completion, offering invaluable insight to any future civil engineers in the club.
The business side is interesting as well. By completing the project three months ahead of schedule, the engineers and contractors shared in a substantial (up to $27 million) bonus - although much of that bonus paid for overtime needed to finish early.
The program originally airs at 8 PM today, Thursday 1/15. National Geographic Channel is on Tallahassee Comcast digital 109 and HD 413.
It will be rerun at 11 PM the same day and is also scheduled for 1/22 at 4 PM.
Some of you might find this article about engineering the bridge, from Popular Mechanics, interesting.
The business side is interesting as well. By completing the project three months ahead of schedule, the engineers and contractors shared in a substantial (up to $27 million) bonus - although much of that bonus paid for overtime needed to finish early.
The program originally airs at 8 PM today, Thursday 1/15. National Geographic Channel is on Tallahassee Comcast digital 109 and HD 413.
It will be rerun at 11 PM the same day and is also scheduled for 1/22 at 4 PM.
Some of you might find this article about engineering the bridge, from Popular Mechanics, interesting.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Software Engineering: 25 worst coding errors
The National Security Agency (NSA), has released its "top 25" list of coding errors that will produce software vulnerable to attack. (See this article from the BBC for an overview.) Anyone serious about developing computer software should take a look at this story and the related links.
If crypto history interests you, the very first set of NSA documents ever put on the World Wide Web concerned the VENONA project, a hand (not computer) break into Soviet ciphers used after 1943. It was responsible for identifying the Rosenbergs and others responsible for sending US atomic secrets to the Soviets, although this fact was not known until many decades after the Rosenbergs were tried and executed for espionage.
If computer-based crypto history interests you, the NSA has a page indexing various articles that include ones about work during WW II breaking German codes with computers. More recent work is not so public. Yet.
If crypto history interests you, the very first set of NSA documents ever put on the World Wide Web concerned the VENONA project, a hand (not computer) break into Soviet ciphers used after 1943. It was responsible for identifying the Rosenbergs and others responsible for sending US atomic secrets to the Soviets, although this fact was not known until many decades after the Rosenbergs were tried and executed for espionage.
If computer-based crypto history interests you, the NSA has a page indexing various articles that include ones about work during WW II breaking German codes with computers. More recent work is not so public. Yet.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Video of fatal NC bridge collapse
The collapse starts at about 2:39 into this video. For details, read the news article from StarNews Online.
You need to be looking at the very top of the picture. The pre-stressed concrete girder that fell is the second from the left. The left-most girder was being placed by the crane at the time. It's too bad that the camera is looking down at the crane at this moment, because a change in the shadows between the girders makes it seem like the failure started at the top plate of the girder. If you look closely around 2:39 and 2:40, it would appear that some material breaks off and falls before the entire girder falls.
It would have helped a lot to see the entire girder during the failure, but forensic work will probably identify the point of failure and its cause. Did the new girder bump the previous one, or was there a manufacturing or design flaw? We will find out in a few months.
You need to be looking at the very top of the picture. The pre-stressed concrete girder that fell is the second from the left. The left-most girder was being placed by the crane at the time. It's too bad that the camera is looking down at the crane at this moment, because a change in the shadows between the girders makes it seem like the failure started at the top plate of the girder. If you look closely around 2:39 and 2:40, it would appear that some material breaks off and falls before the entire girder falls.
It would have helped a lot to see the entire girder during the failure, but forensic work will probably identify the point of failure and its cause. Did the new girder bump the previous one, or was there a manufacturing or design flaw? We will find out in a few months.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Civil Engineering news story
My dad sent me a link to a story in the Engineering News Record about an unusual bridge design being used in Columbus, Ohio.
One of the photos (bottom of the story) shows the arch under construction. You can see the pair of column trusses needed to hold it up until the keystone piece is added.
The Wiki article about this bridge points to a local news story and the pdf file of a detailed paper about the bridge design submitted to an international bridge engineering conference that should interest anyone who wants to go into structural engineering.
I'm not sure about the claim that this is the only bridge of its kind in the US, since I know I have driven over something similar on I-65. It could be that this one uses one arch for a divided roadbed, while the one I remember had an arch for each of two separate bridges, with the two arches tied together in the middle.
One of the photos (bottom of the story) shows the arch under construction. You can see the pair of column trusses needed to hold it up until the keystone piece is added.
The Wiki article about this bridge points to a local news story and the pdf file of a detailed paper about the bridge design submitted to an international bridge engineering conference that should interest anyone who wants to go into structural engineering.
I'm not sure about the claim that this is the only bridge of its kind in the US, since I know I have driven over something similar on I-65. It could be that this one uses one arch for a divided roadbed, while the one I remember had an arch for each of two separate bridges, with the two arches tied together in the middle.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Innovative Architecture - Engineering
Check out this story from the BBC about a planned building in Dubai where each floor will rotate independently under the command of its owner.The building has 80 stories and is 420 m high, which is more than a quarter mile. The video showing a simulation of what it could look like is quite amazing.
In addition, there are wind turbines built into the building so it will generate its own power. There is a set of wind turbine blades between each floor of the building.
In addition, there are wind turbines built into the building so it will generate its own power. There is a set of wind turbine blades between each floor of the building.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
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