USM Team Awarded Quake-Resistant Certificate in IDEERS 2016

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A pioneer team of four final year Civil Engineering students which comprised Kua Chin Tong (team leader), Alexander Yeo Ming Ming, Chiew Chang Chyau and Lee Kenth Zheng ranked 14th in the Introducing and Demonstrating Earthquake Engineering Research in Schools (IDEERS) 2016 competition. The team was supervised by Dr. Lau Tze Liang, whose research interests are in the field of earthquake engineering and structural dynamics. The trip was organized by the IEM-USM Student Section.

The competition was held at the National Centre for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) in Taipei, Taiwan from 7th – 11th September 2016. This competition is an international event jointly organized by the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL), the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE), the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), and the Asia-Pacific Network of Centers for Earthquake Engineering Research (ANCER). This year, a total of 104 teams from 12 different countries, i.e. United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand, Macau and Vietnam took part in this competition, thus making it more competitive.

It is a shaking table contest for high school, college and graduate students which aims to promote their interest on the design and construction of seismic-resistant structures. In this competition, students were required to construct a wooden hotel model according to the structural rules and specifications provided by the organizer. The model was then loaded with steel block and shook together with the models from other teams on the big shaking table until they collapse according to the judges’ desired seismic strength.

Out of 49 college teams from 12 different countries, USM ranked 14th with the constructed small scale model of a building that can sustain 700 gal of simulated earthquake ground motion. The team received Quake-Resistant Certificate for the constructed model. USM team achieved the best rank among Malaysian universities participated in this competition, which are INTI International University & Colleges in the 24th place, Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah (29th), UTM (43rd) and UTHM (48th). This is a great achievement for the team that has represented USM to participate in this competition for the first time. This has also positioned USM in the global education arena.

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Figure 1: USM team has been ranked 14th with 700 gal of simulated earthquake ground motion

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Figure 2: USM team (From left: Chiew Chang Chyau, Lee Kenth Zheng, Dr. Lau Tze Liang, Kua Chin Tong, Alexander Yeo Ming Ming)

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Figure 3: Arrival of National Centre for Research on Earthquake Engineering

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Figure 4: Constructing the model