colincaprani.com

I just came across Himmelblau’s function for testing optimization routines. It has four local minima and one maxima so it provides a good test:

I’m pleased to say my implementation of the Nelder-Meade Simplex Algorithm (on my C++ page here) was able to optimize it for each minima (depending on the starting locations of course). I did have a weird problem though – starting a solution at (0,0) failed, even though the minima are not equidistant from the origin. Go figure!

DIT has released details of its new scholarship programme, the DIT Fiosraigh Scholarship Programme 2010 (for more details see here). Of particular interest to recent graduates is the Dean of Graduate Students Award. This will support the successful candidate with €16k+fees+€2k expenses per year, for up to 4 years. A minimum degree of 2:1 is required.The closing date is 15 September 2010.

Candidates interested in pursuing PhD research in Bridge Loading: statistics and dynamics should send a CV to info@colincaprani.com.

Candidates interested in self-funding research to MSc level are also invited to send their CVs.

Again, some motivation is given in the chart below, and in this post.

Sometimes its useful to re-motivate ourselves. A sobering TIME magazine photo-essay reminds us why we research and try to continually improve the design process:

The Worst Bridge Collapses in the Past 100 Years

Mianus Bridge, Greenwich, Conn. (June 28, 1983)

Another collection is here:
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-seven-quaking-bridges-collapsed-costing-lives

The University of Nevada at Reno (UNR) is carrying out a large-scale shake-table testing of a four-span bridge, at the UNR Earthquake Engineering Laboratory, on 15 June, 2010 at 10:00 Pacific Time, (18:00 UTC). In itself this is an incredible endevour, but the best thing is that they are webcasting the event live.

For details of the bridge and the test set-up, see here:
http://nees.unr.edu/4-spanbridges/UNR Web AnnouncementCompositeBridge.pdf

and the link for the webcast is:
http://nees.unr.edu/projects/4span.html

Four Span Bridge Test

I was delighted to see that the West Point Bridge Designer program has been updated and the competition is still being run. It really makes bridge design fun! The main website is here: West Point Bridge Design Contest.

The program is the main point of interst though. For your design, it animates in real time the stresses and member failures that occur as chosen loads traverse your bridge. The graphics are cool and there isn’t too much by way of technical input data required. Prepare to lose some hours playing this though!

West Point Bridge Designer 2010

A funny bridge design is here: