What is SDC?
SDC (Seismic Design Competition) is a seismic engineering competition, which takes place every year during a conference organised by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). The aim of this competition ist to encourage the students to get involved in approaching a worldwode problem – the seismic risk.
In the competition, each team of students has to build a balsa wood model, which has to resist (and not collapse) during two different intensity earthquake simulatinos, generated by a shake table. As well, very important is the feedback received by the jury, which also evaluates the architecture of the building, the poster, the quality of the project presentation, and the seismic behaviour predictions.
The importance of this competition is given by the many prestigious universities that participate, like University of California Los Angeles, University of California Berkeley, Stanford University, University of Michigan, University of British Columbia.
Who are the people from EERI?
EERI is a nonprofit organisation, where engineers, geologists, architects, both researchers and practitioners, work toghether with the following three goals:
- To reduce the risk represented by the sudden earthquake strikes.
- To have a better understanding about the scientific notions used in the seismic engineering field.
- To have a better understanding about the effects that earthquake have upon the physical, political, economical, social and cultural environment.
All these goals can be achieved by obtaining accurate information about the buildings and using them in order to develop projects for buildings that will resist minimum 300 years, given the fact that this is the maximum recurrence interval for earthquakes.
Therefore EERI is highly significant in the seismic engineering field, and also a worldwide important organisation.
What does the competition involve?
At the first glance, the competition seems easy: manufacturing a balsa wood model , that must be as resistant as possible. But this is not all. There are many rules that the team must strictly follow, otherwise it may be at risk of getting disqualified.
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