The UCSD Department of Structural Engineering

Cyclic Testing of Shear Link for the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge

instructional and research programs are grouped into four programmatic focus areas: civil structures, aerospace (composite structures), renewal of structures, and earthquake engineering. Both the undergraduate and graduate programs are characterized by strong interdisciplinary relationships with the Departments of Physics, Mathematics, Bioengineering, Chemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, the Advanced Manufacturing Program, the Materials Science Program, and associated campus institutes such as the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Institute for Pure and Applied Physical Sciences, Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Institute for Mechanics and Materials, Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials, California Space Institute, and Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

The programs and curricula of the Department of Structural Engineering educate and train engineers in a holistic approach to structural systems engineering by emphasizing and building on the commonality of engineering structures in materials, mechanics, analysis, and design across the engineering disciplines of civil, aerospace, marine and mechanical engineering.

Structural engineering is traditionally viewed as an activity within civil engineering even though many other engineering disciplines such as aerospace, marine (naval, offshore), and mechanical engineering contain well established discipline-specific structural systems components. In all of the various engineering disciplines there exists a large commonality in the structural materials used, in the general principles of structural mechanics, in the overall design philosophy and criteria, and in the modeling and analysis tools employed for the numerical quantification and visualization of structural response. Particularly, small disciplinary differences in materials and computational tools are rapidly disappearing with the civil engineering community opening up to new structural materials developed and used to date primarily in the aerospace industry, and with computational developments which are less product specific but more geared towards a holistic structural systems design approach with interactive graphics, object oriented data base management, and concurrent visualization and data processing. Developments in overall structural systems design are increasingly cross-disciplinary over many traditional engineering areas.

UCSD received in 2002 an NSF “Equipment Site” award under the NEES (Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation) program. The largest shake table in the USA is being constructed as a outdoor facility at the University’s Camp Elliott field site.

UCSD’s Structural Engineering program is unique in that it combines the structural aspects of engineering disciplines such as civil, geotechnical, mechanical, aerospace, and marine/offshore engineering in one focused program based on a strong background of design, structural mechanics, and solid mechanics. This broad-based cross-disciplinary structural engineering approach allows diversity in the selection of graduate courses as well as a diversity of employment opportunities across the engineering spectrum.

The basis for this unified structures approach is in the fact that increasingly materials aspects, classical structural mechanics theories, state-of-the-art and computational numerical analysis tools, and experimental structural analysis techniques are common for structural systems independent of the engineering discipline. Subsequently, focus and specialization within a chosen area is possible through a sequence of discipline specific design courses while preserving a common basis.

UCSD’s Structural Engineering program is also unique in that it focuses on complete structural systems behavior. This focus is provided by the Charles Lee Powell Structural Research Laboratories. This unique facility consists of large-scale testing laboratories where structures as large as 50’ high by 120’ long can be tested using state-of-the-art computer-controlled servo-hydraulic actuators. The facility also includes a high capacity earthquake simulator (shake table), a new geotechnical laboratory, fiber reinforced polymer composite manufacturing laboratories, the polymeric composite material characterization laboratory, the structural dynamics laboratory, and a seismic response modification device test laboratory. These facilities allow for a wide range of tests consisting of cyclic or static load simulations in monotonic or true dynamic fashion at large- and full-scale level. Besides enabling one-of-a-kind experiments, the laboratory facilities allow the validation of complex design and analysis models, which are subsequently used for detailed parametric studies. Thus, a complete system approach from large-scale experiments to nonlinear analytical models is typical for most structures research projects at UCSD and is therefore widely reflected in the graduate research program, providing graduate students with state-of-the-art challenges in experimental analysis and design.

Current research projects in structural engineering include development of seismic response assessment tools, rehabilitation technologies for buildings and bridges (research results from UCSD form the basis of bridge retrofit programs in California), and the full-scale experimental validation of seismic response modification devices such as isolation bearings and dampers. Other projects focus on the development of methodologies for seismic design of foundations, liquefaction characterization and mitigation measures, ground improvements, and the use of geosynthetics.

Close industrial ties exist between UCSD structural engineering faculty and research in the civil engineering area with engineering firms, contractors, and state agencies such as the California Department of Transportation and the Department of Water Resources. In the marine area, strong ties exist with major marine and naval companies, and in the aerospace area with many local aerospace and high-technology corporations. The programs in the Department of Structural Engineering are strengthened by close ties with UCSD’s Scripps Institute of Oceangraphy, the California Space Institute, and the San Diego Supercomputer Center. These, in combination with the Powell Structural Research Laboratories, provide a unique research environment for graduate students and faculty alike.

Structural Engineering Graduate Program

The M.S. degree program is intended to provide the student with additional fundamental knowledge, as well as specialized advanced knowledge, in selected structural engineering aspects over and above the undergraduate degree course work. Two plans are offered: The M.S. Thesis Plan involves course work and research culminating with the preparation and defense of a Masters thesis; and the M.S. Comprehensive Examination Plan involves course work only, and culminates with a comprehensive oral examination. The Thesis Plan is designed for those students with an interest in research prior to entering the structural engineering profession or prior to entering a doctoral degree program.

Students must complete 48 units of credit (12 courses) for graduation. Students can choose the course work option, where all 48 units of credit would consist of regular courses, or a thesis option, where only 36 units (9 courses) from regular courses would be required, in addition to 12 units of research credit for the Master Thesis. For both the course work and thesis options, students are required to complete a minimum of two sequences from the following focus areas.

-- Structural Analysis
-- Structural Design
-- Earthquake Engineering
-- Renewal Engineering
-- Geotechnical Engineering
-- Advanced Composite
-- Solid Mechanics
-- Aerospace Structures

The Ph.D. program is intended to prepare students for a variety of careers in professional practice, research and teaching in the broad sense of structural engineering, encompassing civil and aerospace structures, earthquake and geotechnical engineering, composites, and engineering mechanics. Depending on the student’s background and ability, research is initiated as soon as possible. In general, there are no formal course requirements for the Ph.D. All students, in consultation with their advisors, develop course programs that will prepare them for the Departmental Comprehensive Examination and for their dissertation research. However, these programs of study and research must be planned to meet the time limits established to advance to candidacy and to complete the requirements for the degree. It is expected that a planned course schedule will be submitted to the Graduate Committee annually for review. It should be noted that a maximum of 3 upper division undergraduate courses can be taken as part of requirements for a Doctoral degree. Doctoral students who have passed the Departmental Comprehensive Examination may take any course for an S/U grade, with the exception of any course that the student’s Departmental or Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination Committee stipulates must be taken in order to remove a deficiency. It is strongly recommended that all Structural Engineering graduate students take a minimum of two courses (other than research) per academic year after passing the Departmental Qualifying Examination.