Northeastern sponsors Progressive Collapse Resistance Competition

BOSTON—The Northeastern University (NEU) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is conducting a Progressive Collapse Resistance Competition (PCRC) to provide undergraduate and graduate students and professionals (engineers, architects and others) an opportunity to learn about progressive collapse resistance of reinforced concrete structures. Contestants will predict the progressive collapse resistance of a 1/8-scale, 2-D physical model of a reinforced concrete structure following predefined initial damage. The model will be tested by NEU Assistant Professor Mehrdad Sasani, Ph.D., P.E.’s research team.
Characteristics of the physical model and the initial damage will be provided through the PCRC web site—www.pcrc2007.neu.edu — on Sept. 11, 2007. Participating teams are required to develop analytical models, answer specific questions, and predict the response of the physical model. Contestants must register before Oct. 12 and submit reports by Nov. 16.

The competition will be carried out at two levels—for undergraduate students and for graduate students and professionals. The test will be conducted and webcast live on Nov. 28. Winners, selected by a panel of experts, will be announced on Feb. 29, 2008, and an awards ceremony held on April 25, 2008, at the Structures Congress in Vancouver, Canada. Prizes range from $1,000 to $5,000 at the undergraduate level and from $2,000 to $8,000 at the graduate/professional level. There is no fee to enter the contest.