Notes

New paper: Bayesian model selection for off-axis strength

A new open-access paper in Structures uses Bayesian model selection to compare empirical off-axis strength models for anisotropic materials.

PyCBA reaches 1.0

PyCBA, our free and open-source continuous-beam analysis package, reaches its 1.0 milestone.

A workshop, not a museum

The site is rebuilt. The old posts and comments are kept in the archive; this is where the working notes will go.

Monash Uni Woodside Building Earthquake Response (May 2023)

Real time visualization of the recorded motion of the building during the Sunbury 3.8M earthquake of 28 May 2023. Rotating camera angle. Data and code

On the Role of AI/ML in Engineering Research

A talk given to the Dept. of Civil Engineering, Monash University, 25 February 2022. Abstract: Is AI/ML just the latest fad in engineering research, o

ospgrillage workshop

Recording of a workshop on ospgrillage held 30 Nov 2021. ospgrillage is a free and open source python package for bridge deck grillage analysis based

Monash University Woodside Living Lab - Real Time Earthquake Motion

Real time visualization of the recorded motion of the building during the Mansfield M5.9 earthquake, 22 Sept 2021. Rotating camera angle. Data and cod

What is the value of SHM?

A talk given to the Australian Network of Structural Health Monitoring (ANSHM) in the 11th Annual Workshop on 8 December 2020. Abstract: Structural He

Excel is Evil - Why it has no place in research

Recording of talk given to the Dept. of Civil Engineering on 4 December 2020. Abstract To a person with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Thi

Super load: Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRA)

When the Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRA) needed to shift twenty 270-tonne bridge structures across Melbourne, the Victorian State Government, Vi

Combining cross-references in MS Word

I use MS Word for a lot of my writings (though I've come to dislike it intensely for more mathematical work). Cross-referencing Figures and Tables is

Journal Article Submission Figures Workflow

After the blood, sweat, and tears is finished, and the article summarizing your wonderful research is ready to be submitted, well then there's the sub

Integrating LaTeXdiff with TeXStudio

Recently I've started using LaTeX for my more mathematical writing. Although I've been using MS Word + MathType for 15+ years, the frustration of bad

IStructE: Australia meets Ireland

Prof. Brian Uy, University of Sydney, will give a lecture to the Insitution of Structural Engineers, Republic of Ireland Regional Group on recent adva

Back up at last!

So this website disappeared for a while, as you may have noticed. In July 2013 I moved to Australia, to the Department of Civil Engineering at Monash

Qualitative Analysis

Analysing structures without recourse to numbers is vital for engineers to have a basic appreciation of structural behaviour, and to help identify err

Peter Rice – 20 year Anniversary

Peter Rice the famous and brilliant Irish engineer died 20 years ago this year. To celebrate his significant contribution to the global profession of

Micro-cracks in steel

Here's an amazing false colour image of a micro crack in steel, viewed through an electron microscope. Through repeated load cycles such cracks get bi

BCRI Young Researcher Award

Well the Bridge and Concrete Research in Ireland (BCRI) conference, held on 6/7 September 2012, and co-chaired by myself and Dr Alan O'Connor of Trini

The Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary

On 27 May 2012 San Franciscans showed the world just how much the Golden Gate bridge means to them with an amazing fireworks display to celebrate 75 y

Journal paper published – footbridge vibration

The paper Enhancement factors for the vertical response of footbridges subjected to stochastic crowd loading has been published in the prestigious Com

Spaghetti Bridge World Record

The video of spaghetti bridge world record test is below. The bridge weighed 0.982 kg and held 443.58 kg before failing spectacularly. This is an amaz

The importance of units

There are some quite serious sites that point out the importance of units in engineering calculations, but a less serious result of an error is the gu

Nonlinear beam behaviour example

This shows the deflection and bending moment history of a propped cantilever loaded with a point load at mid-span. The beam has a plastic moment capac

Getting properties from CMFCPropertyGridProperty

It's been a while…but this is a good one – if it is what you need! In Visual C++, the MFC Feature Pack gives the property grid control, but one of the

TLCD Video Analysis using Matlab

To measure the liquid heights in a Tuned Liquid Column Damper, either very expensive wave bob metres are needed, or the researcher can go through vide

Build a 15-storey Hotel in 6 days? No Problem!

Well worth a look for the prefabrication and impeccable logistical planning evident from the video. But it's not that new…the Empire State Building to

Optimization: Himmelblau's Function

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 pl

Research Opportunities

DIT has released details of its new scholarship programme, the DIT Fiosraigh Scholarship Programme 2010 (for more details see here). Of particular int

Bridge Collapses as Motivation

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

Webcast of 4-Span Bridge Earthquake Test

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 Labo

West Point Bridge Designer

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 des

Engineering Stuff

Final Year Trip to Munich

In a revival of a department tradition, this year's final year students organised a class trip to see some world class structures in Munich, Germany.

Engineers are cool!

Some of us knew it already, but now there's proof! Produced by Arup for the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers 2009 Presidential Address.

Predictive Likelihood Paper Published

In a good start to the new year, the paper The use of predictive likelihood to estimate the distribution of extreme bridge traffic load effect has bee

IStructE Structural Awards 2009

The Institution of Structural Engineers‘ Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence has been award to Expedition Engineering for their

At last – an excuse…

As you can see from the very scientific graph below, it is only natural that lecturers have a bad sense of humour!

DIT Final Year Projects 2009/10

Around this time of year, many students have difficulty trying to identify appropriate topics for study towards their Final Year Project. Many other t

IStructE Lecture: Wexford Opera House

The rebuilding of Wexford Opera House, the first purpose-designed opera house in Ireland was completed on schedule for the 2008 autumn opera festival.

Project III – Submission Time Changed

The submission time for the Project III Building Design Case Study is one hour ealrier at 9am on Thursday 7 May. This is to provide adequate time to i

DIT Lunchtime Talk on PostGrad Options

Update: This talk has been post-poned until Wednesday 6 May, 13:15-14:00 in Rm 249. There will be a lunchtime information talk on all aspects of post-

DIT Postgraduate Evening & Opportunities

DIT's annual Postgraduate Open Evening will take place on 11th March, 2009 from 3pm-7.30pm in the atrium in DIT Aungier Street. Prospective students c

The Economic Importance of Engineers

Given that the current times are resulting in an unprecedented layoff of highly qualified, skilled, and experience engineers (civil and structural in

Postgraduate Research – A Timely Choice

For the graduates of 2009, postgraduate study should be a real option as the next step in their careers. Given the current conditions in the domestic

Happy Christmas!

So the spaghetti bridges have all been broken, the mince pies are beckoning and exam fear still hasn't raised its ugly head. Enjoy the festive season!

Structural Analysis IV Lab – Deadline Extended

The handup date for the 4th session in the Computer Modelling of Structures laboratory for DT024/4 students has been extended. Submissions are now due

IStructE Lecture – The Millau Viaduct

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

Avoiding Semester 1 Syndrome

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,

More on presentations

In the Presentations section of the site I've mentioned Edward Tufte and the art of presenting complex information. He even suggests that PowerPoint w

Journal article published

The paper titled Determination of bridge lifetime dynamic amplification factor using finite element analysis of critical loading scenarios will appear

Randy Pausch Dies

Randy Pausch, a computer engineering lecturer from Carnegie Mellon University has died. He became kown for his Last Lecture wich has been viewed by ov

Lights, Camera, Tension Field Action!

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

It's quiet time…

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, he

Journal Paper Published

The paper Characteristic traffic load effects from a mixture of loading events on short to medium span bridges has been published in Structural Safety

More Programs Updates

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

Programs Updated

The C++ section of the website has been updated with many small programs available for download: Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm; Runge-Kutta, 4th order

MultiFeedSnap – Moved

The WordPress plugin MultiFeedSnap has nicely proved to be quite popular. Consequently, I've moved it to its own page, rather than try maintain it as

Why We Research

Research into bridge loading applies existing science and techniques to solve what is quite obviously a practical problem. Even so, I'm often asked wh

Presentations Added

Presentations on research papers and general structural engineering topics that I've made are now available here. There's also a presentation made to

Dissertation Section

Rather than having to download the full 18.7 MB, this re-vamped section of the website outlines the research carried out for my PhD. The abstract is h

In Memorium – Joe O'Donovan

Sadly Joe O'Donovan, co-founder and Chairman of Rough & O'Donovan Consulting Engineers, passed away at the weekend. From the ROD website: A favourite

Updates

I've been updating the site content lately so there is plenty to check out.

PhD Thesis

My PhD thesis is available for download as a pdf here (18.7 MB). It's called Probabilistic Analysis of Highway Bridge Traffic Loading and generally do

Welcome!

At last! My long-threatened revamp to my website is under way. I’m moving the old, crappy, Frontpage-spawned, static, hard-to-update, discouraging web