Engineering Committee Research Articles

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers Engineering Committee Correspondence

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers Engineering Committee Correspondence

Solid Waste Engineering Committee

Solid Waste Engineering Committee

SMPTE Engineering Committees Meet in Cypress, Calif

SMPTE Engineering Committees Meet in Cypress, Calif

Response-based extreme value analysis of moored offshore structures due to wave, wind, and current

Floating moored offshore structures have a significant future in offshore operations as an attractive economic alternative to fixed structures in deep waters and/or in areas where there is no existing infrastructure. This paper describes an analysis procedure based on the structure variable approach to estimate load and response values of a moored offshore platform at a given return period by taking into account the joint occurrence of wave, wind, and current. The results show that the most severe mooring loads may not occur when wind, wave, and current are collinear and are at their maximum design values, i.e., the 50- or 100-year case. It is recommended that the extreme mooring design loads for moored offshore systems should be determined through a range of physical or numerical simulations where wave, wind, and current are noncollinear and act with less severe magnitudes than the 50- or 100-year case. This recommendation has also been adopted in the ITTC/Ocean Engineering Committee recommendations to the ITTC Conference held in September 1996.

Engineering News: William H. Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corp. Addresses SMPTE Engineering Committees

Engineering News: William H. Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corp. Addresses SMPTE Engineering Committees

Solid Waste Engineering Committee

Solid Waste Engineering Committee

Environmental Public Health Engineering Committee

Environmental Public Health Engineering Committee

Design criteria for the seismic rehabilitation of buildings

SUMMARY A methodology was presented by the author in a previous paper for the development of design criteria for buildings. This methodology was based on the principles of structural reliability and structural dynamics. This paper illustrates how many elements of this methodology have been implemented and extended to develop design criteria for reinforced concrete and steel buildings by special blue ribbon committees selected by the City of Los Angeles Building Department. This paper presents the design criteria developed by these committees and discusses some of the more contentious issues. Reinforced concrete buildings built prior to 1976 have performed very poorly in recent earthquakes. They can certainly be identified as having a special life safety concern in the event of the occurrence of a major earthquake. This concern is not recent. Perhaps the first clear documentation of this concern was the proposed new design approach presented in the book entitled Reinforced Concrete Design Book by Blume, Newmark and Corning published in the early 1960s. Since one generation of structural engineers has been educated since the publication of this book and since numerous failures and near collapses of reinforced concrete frame buildings occurred during the Northridge and Kobe earthquakes, now is the time to take action. The building department of the City of Los Angeles has on numerous occasions been a leader in design criteria development. Consistent with this past tradition of excellence the city formed a special committee of structural engineers to document damage to concrete buildings during the Northridge earthquake and also to advise them on courses of action. Design criteria for the seismic rehabilitation of existing reinforced concrete buildings located in the City of Los Angeles were developed by the members of this committee. The acknowledgement section of this paper identifies the committee. This draft was based on and extended the methodology presented in a 1992 The Masonry Society Journal paper entitled ‘A philosophy of a reliability based limit state design approach’. The author as a member of this committee was asked to write the first draft for these new seismic rehabilitation criteria. The new design criteria were entitled ‘Evaluation and rehabilitation criteria for concrete structures’ and were approved by the committee in June 1994. The 1994 Northridge earthquake also presented structural engineers with an unexpected new class of hazardous existing buildings. These buildings are defined as ‘special moment resisting

Standardized Experimental Testing Procedures for Low-Rise Structures

This paper reports the progress made, over an eighteen month period, by an ad hoc committee of the Structural Engineers′ Association of Southern California in the development of guidelines to be followed if consistent experimental investigations, representative of the structural performance of mixed material systems under strong seismic excitation, are to be achieved. Aspects covered include the issue of load or deflection control, the rate of load application, the pattern of repetitive load or displacement application, the number of components or systems to be tested and the interpretation of the results.

Experience with application of reliability and value of service analysis in system planning

This paper documents the material presented at the IEEE 1994 Summer Power Meeting Panel on the application of reliability in least cost power system planning, sponsored by the Application of Probability Methods (APM) Subcommittee of the Power System Engineering Committee of IEEE. The paper contains short notes by five panelists, representing five electric utilities in North America, on the application of reliability and value of service analysis in power system planning.

Change and convergence in technology-based information systems

The author describes how the Change and Convergence Workshop held on the 20th March 1996 by the IEE's Information Engineering Committee identified social, economic and other barriers to effective exploitation of new forms of information systems and considered actions that might be taken to eliminate or reduce their effects.

Requirements capture. Getting better software and software-based systems

The author describes how a workshop organised by the IEE's Information Engineering Committee on the 27th November 1995 which considered the specification aspects of software procurement. The aim of the Workshop was to consider the nature and function of requirements specifications used for the procurement of systems which are large and complex, not well understood, or likely to change because of the need to respond to changes in the operational environment.

Electricity transactions in an open access market

The electric power industry is becoming increasingly competitive. A number of other regulated industries have recently been deregulated. Federal and state regulators are increasingly opening up the electric power industry to competition. These ideas have not suddenly been brought down from the mountain top. Rather, they are part of an evolution in the energy marketplace. A 1995 Winter Meeting panel session, sponsored by the IEEE PES Power System Engineering Committee, explored Electricity Transactions in an Open Access Market. Panelists included: Richard Tabors, chairman of Tabors Caramanis and Associates, and assistant director of MIT laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems; Brad Leach, director of Electricity and Natural Gas Research at the New York Mercantile Exchange; Dennis Meany, vice president of Louis Dreyfus Electric Power, Inc.; Steve Kean, vice president of Enron Gas services Group; John Flory, principal in charge of the Western Division, Tabors Caramanis and Associates. This article summarizes the panel session by describing the evolution of deregulation, discussing the benefits of deregulation, describing what an electricity transaction might look like in this open access market, and describing the implications of this market for current participants and the possible contributions of new participants.

Pooling generating unit data for improved estimates of performance indices

The purpose of this paper is to present and explain some fundamental concepts of pooling data to improve estimators of generating unit performance indices. These concepts were developed by a Task Force of the Application of Probability Methods Subcommittee of the Power System Engineering Committee. This paper delineates the two major reasons for pooling estimators: (1) to obtain improved estimators of unit performance when the units are homogeneous; and (2) to obtain good estimators of system performance when the system contains heterogeneous units. The paper recommends the correct method for pooling in both cases.

Third order turboalternator electrical stability models with applications to subsynchronous resonance studies

This paper deals primarily with the application of standstill frequency response (SSFR) models to subsynchronous resonance (SSR) studies involving large turbogenerators. It has been already recognized that models derived from SSFR testing intrinsically define the so-called subsubtransient frequency domain as well as the transient and subtransient domains. The application of a variety of SSFR models has been described previously only for one machine. Another turbogenerator possessing markedly different damping characteristics is compared with the one referred to above. Comparisons are also made with an IEEE Benchmark model. Comments regarding the damping performance of each of these three machines in the SSR range are discussed as well as the effect of rotor and field on stator differential leakage fluxes. Proposals are made for consideration by the IEEE Power System Engineering and Electric Machinery Committees involved in benchmark SSR stability programs or in related generator modeling standards. >

Mastering a New Role: Shaping Technology Policy for National Economic Performance

Mastering a New Role: Shaping Technology Policy for National Economic Performance

The Near-Surface Geophysics Section

Early this summer, the SEG Executive Committee approved the formation of the Near-Surface Geophysics Section (NSG). The action was taken in response to a petition put together by members of SEG's Environmental Engineering and Groundwater Geophysics Committee, Mining and Geothermal Committee, and Gravity and Magnetics Committee. The NSG is the first SEG Section based on disciplinary interest, a concept provided for in the Constitution and Bylaws. It will work within SEG's existing structure whenever possible, but will have the flexibility to quickly follow appropriate new directions when necessary to serve the needs of the growing near-surface geophysics community.

A Technology Review of the 1989 IFAC SWIIS Workshop on International Conflict Resolution Using Systems Engineering

As an activity of its Systems Engineering Committee, workshops on International Stability have been organized to date in 1983, 1986, 1989 and 1992 by the IFAC Working Group on Supplementary Ways for Increasing International Stability (SWIIS) in addition to SWIIS technical sessions held during the IFAC congresses, which are also held triennallyAs one of a series of four papers, the intent of this paper is to provide a summary of the 1989 workshop held in Budapest. The paper will indicate the contributions made by each author to the knowledge and understanding of international stability from the systems engineering point of viewThe purpose of this series of four papers is-To provide a convenient record, in summary form, of work that has been facilitated via the IFAC SWIIS Working Group to date-To make this work better known and more accessible to others, particularly in instances where it may lead to the establishment of networking, closer relationships and collaboration with others-To assist in establishing future directions for the working group

Revised standard addresses design requirements for computers used in nuclear power-plant safety systems

The IEEE Nuclear Engineering Committee has standards that address hardware issues. The IEEE Computer Society has standards addressing software. The P-7-4.3.2, IEEE standard criteria for digital computers in safety systems of nuclear power generating stations, which brings together standards from both groups to address the integration of computer hardware and software with noncomputer hardware, is discussed. P-7-4.3.2 is being developed to show the interrelationship of software and hardware requirements as they apply throughout the development process. The influence of system design development on system quality, system qualification, and system integrity, are described. >

Materials Science and Technology: A Model for Achieving National Education Goals

In April 1991, President Bush unveiled “America 2000,” a national strategy for improving the overall performance of students in America's school system. He and the nation's governors developed the strategy as a result of the historical Charlottesville Summit, held in Virginia in 1989.America 2000 focuses on six national education goals, three directly related to mathematics and science education. Goal 4, in particular, states that “by the year 2000, US. students will be first in the world in science and mathematics achievement.” By the Year 2000, the report of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) Committee on Education and Human Resources (CEHR) details the federal government's strategic objectives for meeting this goal.The primary objectives outlined in the report focus on (1) improving student performance, (2) providing a strong precollege work force, (3) ensuring an adequate pipeline for the science and engineering work force, including increased participation of underrepresented groups, and (4) improving public science literacy. I'll discuss later how a revolutionary materials science and technology curriculum developed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and Northwest teachers has proved to be a model for meeting these objectives.The FCCSET/CEHR report identified precollege as the educational level receiving the highest priority. At this level, the strategy for achieving the objectives is structured around (1) improving teacher preparation and enhancement, (2) reforming curricula, (3) organizing systemic reform, and (4) providing student incentives and opportunities.