http://www.colincaprani.com Structural Engineering, Bridge Research, Programming, and more... Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:49:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Dr Vincent de VIlle of Bureau Greisch de Liège gave an enthralling lecture in DIT Bolton St last night about the design and construction of the MIllau Viaduct (emblazoned on this website). The Millau Viaduct, completed in 2004, has already taken its rightful place as an engineering masterpiece and this ... http://www.colincaprani.com/wordpress/2008/10/istructe-lecture-the-millau-viaduct/ Let's do this in FAQ fashion. But first be aware that some generalizations and personal opinions follow... What is the Semester 1 Syndrome? Simply put, it is the tendency for students, fresh into 3rd year, to put an inadequate amount of work in, and who consequently don't perform as well as ... http://www.colincaprani.com/wordpress/2008/09/avoiding-semester-1-syndrome/ In the Presentations section of the site I've mentioned Edward Tufte and the art of presenting complex information. He even suggests that PowerPoint was complicit in the Challenger disaster due to its inability to convey complex information. Read an extract from his essay The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out ... http://www.colincaprani.com/wordpress/2008/09/more-on-presentations/ The paper titled Determination of bridge lifetime dynamic amplification factor using finite element analysis of critical loading scenarios will appear in the September 2008 edition of Engineering Structures. This journal has an impact factor of 0.986 for 2007. This paper outlines the simulations behind the dynamic interaction model which was used ... http://www.colincaprani.com/wordpress/2008/09/journal-article-published/ Randy Pausch, a computer engineering lecturer from Carnegie Mellon University has died. He became kown for his Last Lecture wich has been viewed by over 6 million people on video and was turned into a book - The Last Lecture, which is how I came to know him. He was diagnosed ... http://www.colincaprani.com/wordpress/2008/07/randy-pausch-dies/ Ok, so I can't resist a bad pun. Anyway, this super example of tension field action is outside the structural laboratories of the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées (LCPC) in Paris, which is the French Government body for research into roads and bridges. This visit to LCPC was part of ... http://www.colincaprani.com/wordpress/2008/06/lights-camera-tension-field-action/ Lectures have ended, exams have been sat, and students have cried with joy and sorrow... So my work is done for the year! But to keep the spirits up, here's a scene from A Few Good Structural Engineers: Engineer: You want answers? Architect: I think I'm entitled to them. Engineer: You want answers? Architect: I want the truth!! Engineer: You ... http://www.colincaprani.com/wordpress/2008/06/its-quiet-time/ The paper Characteristic traffic load effects from a mixture of loading events on short to medium span bridges has been published in Structural Safety at last. It was first submitted in June 2005 and eventually made available online in April 2007. So I'm delighted that it has eventully been given ... http://www.colincaprani.com/wordpress/2008/06/journal-paper-published/ The two main programs that I've developed in Visual Basic are now available here: FEBeam: a finite element beam analysis package; TrussMaster: a truss analysis package. These programs are close to fully-fledged but there are still some rough edges. Also made available are: TrussGenerator: an auxilliary program to TrussMaster; Steel Section DB: a steel sections ... http://www.colincaprani.com/wordpress/2008/05/more-programs-updates/ The C++ section of the website has been updated with many small programs available for download: Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm; Runge-Kutta, 4th order program; Generalized Extreme Value distribution fitting program; Machine Epsilon calculator; Matrix class based on STL; Monte Carlo calculation of pi; Square root of a matrix program; Steelbeam analysis program. The Visual Basic section has also been updated, ... http://www.colincaprani.com/wordpress/2008/05/programs-updated/