THE CIVIL ENGINEER IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM
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THE CIVIL ENGINEER IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM
A. Emin Aktan
John Roebling Professor of Infrastructure Studies
Director of Drexel Intelligent Infrastructure and Transportation Safety Institute
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Paper Invited for the Ersoy Symposium
Middle East Technical University, Ankara May 16, 1999
Keywords: Civil engineering education, curriculum, new Millennium, civil infrastructure systems, structural analysis, structural design,
information technologies, infrastructure health-management
Introduction, Motivation, and Objectives
Dr. Ugur Ersoy mentored the writer starting from 1968 when the writer studied for an MS degree at the Middle East
Technical University (METU). In 1970 the writer was admitted to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign based on
Dr. Ersoy’s recommendation, and Dr. Mete Sozen advised him as he studied for his PhD. After earning a PhD in
earthquake-structural engineering the writer returned to Turkey and joined METU as an assistant professor in 1973.
During six years at METU, he collaborated extensively with Dr. Ersoy and earned the title of “docent.” In 1979 he
returned to the U.S., joining the University of California at Berkeley as a research engineer, and collaborated with Dr.
Vitelmo Bertero until 1984.
In 1968, Dr. Ersoy offered the writer an opportunity to participate in a contemporary graduate course, “Behavior of
Reinforced Concrete”. Dr. Ersoy brought several elements to this course, such as reading landmark journal articles as
assignments, a practice which the writer emulated throughout his own teaching career. The writer’s first teaching
apprenticeship was as he taught “Strength of Materials ” in 1969 at METU, while learning this topic through the
teachings of Dr. Ersoy. It became clear to the writer that Dr. Ersoy himself has been emulating his mentor, the late
Professor Phil Ferguson, throughout his own career.
During 1973-1979, it became apparent to the writer that Dr. Ersoy was interested in “education research” as much as
research on the behavior of reinforced concrete. The effects between social, political and educational systems affect the
design and delivery of higher education was a frequent topic of discussion between Dr. Ersoy and the colleagues he
mentored. During the late 60's, there were turbulent times worldwide, which influenced the cold war in Europe and the Viet
Nam War in the U.S. This was characterized by wide protests by a generation of college students throughout the Western
World. At METU, the period of 1968-1970 was also a very turbulent one, violent student unrest and an extended period of
student take-over of the university. 1970 was the first time soldiers were invited by the university administration to enter
the METU campus. The writer feels that this event marked the loss of the innocent idealism of this forward-thinking
university which was established in 1956, based on a special legislation by the Turkish Congress with the vision to
educate the future leaders of the society. It should be, however, the privilege of Dr. Ersoy’s generation to lead the
documentation of the first 40 years of METU, a unique social experiment in the history of the young Turkish Republic.
The writer taught undergraduate and graduate level course-chains on structural analysis at METU, LSU, Cincinnati and
Drexel University. Especially during the last decade (1989-1999) there have been significant changes in the tools that are
used for structural analysis, and this impacted the writers approach to teaching this subject. A second influence has been
the writer’s research on structural-identification of buildings, bridges and more recently, complete transportation
systems. The experiences gained through the research projects focused on actual operating or decommissioned buildings
and bridges have helped shape the writer’s appreciation of the design of structural analysis syllabi. It is just as important
1that the writer’s teaching of structural-analysis in turn impacted his research on structural identification, such as the idea
of using modal flexibility as a kernel signature, and the use of changes in influence coefficients as damage indices.
The writer is motivated to take the opportunity of the Ersoy Symposium to evaluate his changing perception of what was
considered to constitute a ”contemporary” course on structural analysis through his career as an educator. Structural
analysis is a specialty area, which was especially influenced by the profound social and technological changes of the last
two decades. Discussion of changes in this area would help expand the subject matter to the complete civil engineering
education. The writer believes that such an evaluation would serve as a tribute to Dr. Ersoy’s long career as an educator
and his lifetime interest in higher education as a critical societal need.
The first objective of this paper is to evaluate the impacts of personal computing, prevailing in the early 1980's, and the
emergence of the infrastructure preservation problem in the second half of 1980's, on the civil engineering curriculum.
Naturally, many additional factors would also influence the civil engineering curriculum and what would be expected from
a civil engineer in the new millennium.
The second objective is to summarize the emerging research needs in the areas of intelligent infrastructure systems,
infrastructure health-monitoring, and integrated asset management of infrastructure systems. These needs naturally
impact curriculum, and would serve to exemplify some of the expectations from renaissance engineers who desire a
transformation in the state-of-civil engineering education and align this with societal needs.
1. 1980's Technology Explosion and its Impact on the PC-Based Analysis
Writer worked at Berkeley as a research engineer during 1979-1984, conducting research on earthquake engineering.
Although the PC was emerging during this time, software enabling linear and non-linear structural analysis and for finite-
element analysis was not yet available in the PC environment. Mainframe’s with slow turn-around and expensive run-
times were appropriate for research and instruction but not for routine practice. Mini-computer systems, which were less
expensive to run, were typically dedicated to data-acquisition and research computation. Although many faculty and
researchers did not immediately notice the potential impacts of the PC, a few such as Dr. Edward Wilson asserted: “any
engineering computation problem can be solved by using a PC. If an engineering problem cannot be solved in the PC
environment, its solution may not be necessary!” Some of the far-sighted efforts by Dr. Wilson were to adapt structural
analysis educational (CAL) and research (SAP) software to the micro-computer environment and to develop a course
entitled “Microcomputer as a Structural Engineering Workstation.”
The writer emulated Dr. Wilson after joining the faculty of LSU in 1984, and used Dr. Wilson’s notes to teach a course on
the use of microcomputers for structural analysis. His early research at LSU included developing interactive,
microcomputer-based nonlinear section and structural analysis software such as RCSA (Aktan, A. E., and Nelson, G.,
"Problems in Predicting Seismic Responses of RC Buildings," Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, September 1988,
pp: 2036-2056).
In 1988, he tried to articulate how the PC should change the way we conduct structural analysis (Aktan, A. E., "Present
and Future in RC Building Analysis," Paper presented at and Published in the Proceedings of the 9th World Conference
on Earthquake Engineering, Aug. 2-9, Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, 1988). Based on the lessons learned during the recently
concluded US-Japan Cooperative Research Program on Reinforced Concrete Buildings (Publication SP-84, "Earthquake
Effects on Reinforced Concrete Structures, U.S.- Japan Research," American Concrete Institute, 1985), his assessments
were:
(a) It is not possible to predict responses of even an existing simple laboratory model of a reinforced concrete building
irrespective of the software used. The single most important factor was in analytical modeling. The inability to represent
the properties of actual structural elements and their connections with analytical elements, and to understand and
simulate the kinematics at the critical regions and at the boundaries between the structure and the foundations, were the
primary issues affecting the reliability of predicted responses (Aktan, A. E. and Nam, D. H., "Inelastic Analysis for
Vulnerability Assessment," Paper presented at and published in the Proceedings of the 6th ASCE Structures Congress,
21987).
(b) Given the futility of simulation with any confidence, we should not try to predict the absolute responses of any
structure being designed. This is especially important in the case of nonlinear dynamic analysis, which have been
promoted extensively for seismic design at the time. Since the initial stiffness of a structure subjected to ground-motion
usually has a profound impact on the maximum response, and since it is not possible to predict initial stiffness with
sufficient confidence, trying to predict nonlinear dynamic response was found very unrealistic.
(c) In spite of the futility in trying to predict response with any confidence, there are many advantages in 3D modeling
and analysis of structural systems and using the computer for analysis in design and in evaluation. However, the
engineer should clearly understand that the goals of structural analysis is not the prediction of absolute response but
testing for anomalies and developing a better intuition of the possible bounds of 3D behavior.
For example, a 3D visualization (enabled by powerful CAD and solid-modeling software such as AUTOCAD 13 and
IDEAS), in conjunction with properly designed static and dynamic analyses of a geometric analytical model of a structure
in the context of a parameter sensitivity study, if interpreted with experience and intuition, may reveal:
1. Whether the flow of gravity and lateral forces through a structure is continuous and occurring with
sufficient redundancy and attenuation, as opposed to any discontinuities in force and/or stresses,
which may cause amplifications;
2. Whether a uniform distribution of stiffness and mass, and a desirable distribution of required member
and connection capacities are provided, and whether all possible undesirable material and element
failure and structural instability modes are mitigated. In many cases, serviceability problems due to a
lack of sufficient stiffness and due to possible near-resonance may be recognized and mitigated;
3. Whether there are member and connection geometries, which make the constructability of the design
difficult; whether it is possible to construct the structure as envisioned in the analytical modeling, or, if
an evaluation is being carried out, which critical regions have to be closely inspected and sampled for
material conditions;
4. Whether there is a need for movement systems within the structure and how to best accommodate
those movements, which the structure-foundation-soil cannot be expected to safely absorb and
dissipate.
The above issues may be accomplished without a need for predicting absolute responses or near-exact estimates of
loading effects as long as the critical requirements in reliable analytical modeling for behavior simulation are understood
(Aktan, A.E. and Ho, I-K., "Seismic Vulnerability Evaluation of Existing Buildings," Earthquake Spectra, Journal of the
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, August 1990, pp: 439-472 ). Although experienced structural engineers who
have been well-educated and mentored into developing sufficient intuition and insight may accomplish all of the
evaluations listed in 1-4 by using idealized analytical models, hand analysis, and if necessary, by studying physical
models, we need to recognize that such engineers have been extremely rare at any given time. The opportunity provided
by the PC has been to enable properly educated “masses” of engineers to accomplish observations and solutions, which
were the domain of a very few. Therefore, curriculum and education should recognize (unless disproved) such a goal for
structural analysis.
(d) In the evaluation of an existing structure, subsequently termed as “condition assessment”, the strategy of
“structural-identification” should be used to improve the confidence in any simulation. Structural-identification requires
extensive investment into experimental technologies, many of which have emerged or became feasible only after the
advent of the PC.
32. Implications on Structural Analysis Courses and the Curriculum
Following the short history of the advent of PC-based structural analysis, one needs to evaluate how the PC should
impact the syllabi of structural analysis courses. It is important to recognize that technological change did not occur
suddenly and has been continuous, however, the speed of technological advance has been increasing. Although we
consider the advent of the PC as the harbinger of the technological age in engineering, according to Charles Morris who
manages a Science and Technology Fund on Wall Street: “During the 1980's, it (technology) was automation of the back
office and deployment of mainframe and minicomputers. In the 1990's, it has been personal computers and cellular. Now
the industry is reinventing itself to Internet-work computing (NY Times, May 9, 1999).” Writer further recalls a keynote
address, during the Structures Congress in 1989, by Dr. Steven Fenves of the Carnegie Mellon University, discussing the
future developments in computers. Dr. Fenves’s assertion in 1989 was that within a decade computers should be able to
complement four of our five senses, i.e. hear, see, touch, smell, in addition to compute, store and recall, and, reason. Dr.
Fenves has been proved quite accurate since 1998.
Today, at the end of 1999, we are looking at the integration of communication and information devices within the
computer (phone, computer, television, radio, camera, recorder, etc) while pushing the frontiers in miniaturization, wireless
and bandwidth. There is no disputing the credibility of many forms of artificial intelligence and robotics. Development of
micro-electro-mechanical devices (MEMS) in conjunction with advances in the physics and chemistry of Nano-
engineering have become challenges.
Given the relentless reductions in cost while increasing effectiveness of computers, what should be the duration and
contents of structural analysis in an undergraduate civil engineering curriculum? Is it possible to cover what is
considered as minimum necessary structural analysis skills in a Quarter or even a Semester? Which topics are
fundamental, and which are just application? Is it necessary to teach any methods other than approximate techniques for
hand analysis? How fast do we have to modify and adapt the curriculum and syllabi to do justice to future engineers
who have to compete and function in a world governed by the exponential increases in the pace of technological
advance. Parallel to these questions, we need to also ask whether more general concepts such as “performance-based
design,” “systems -engineering for information-based design,” “just-in-time learning,” “lifelong learning,” and
“product-based versus process-oriented education” also impact the considerations regarding desirable contents of a
“required” course on structural-analysis at the undergraduate level.
The writer is convinced that the following will govern engineering as we enter the new Millenium:
1. The PC is being transformed into a more advanced and cheaper device with speeds that are unfathomable. Computers
are integrating computing with hand-held wireless connectivity to networks with vast amounts of data, and voice-
recognition, digital photography and voice and image communication with immense storage and computation speeds are
here. According to NY Times (May 12, 1999), IBM researchers have set a new record in magnetic-disk storage density,
packaging bits of data in a space so small that 20 Billion fit within a square inch. This advance emulated the remarkable
progress made in the speed and computing power of silicon memory chips. According to Gordon Moore, a co-founder of
the Intel Corporation, the computing power of silicon chips for a given size doubled every 18 months since the 1960's.
This latest report in advance storage density doubled magnetic storage density in just 17 months.
We need to note that the advances in microelectronics are first reaped by the US, which invested about $650 Billion into
technology in 1997 (NY Times, May 11, 1999), followed by about $300 Billion in Japan and $100 Billion in Germany. The
sum of technology spending by Germany, Britain, France and Italy roughly equaled that of Japan which all added up
roughly to that of US. The implication is that it will take some time before the industrial countries become saturated with
technology.
2. Simulation of complex phenomena, given the existence of an acceptable analytical model, is not limited by the
availability or cost of computer hardware or software any longer. For example, in a couple of years it will be feasible to use
digital photography and reverse-CAD for establishing the 3D geometry of a structure, to reach into data-bases for legacy
information about the design and construction of the structure, and to conduct many types and levels of analysis in
4conjunction with parameter sensitivity studies for operation and maintenance (or renewal) management. The issue will be
structural-identification for reliable analytical modeling that will become a basis for simulations. Therefore, the true frontier
for most civil engineers will no longer be the methods, tools and software development needs for numerical and
comp utational aspects of analysis. Instead, the challenge will be in adapting new technologies with appropriate strategies
for systems -identification and integration of civil infrastructure systems. Health-monitoring, integrated health-and-
operational management, and, integrated asset management of civil infrastructure systems will need to effectively
integrate a multitude of concepts, skills, approaches, methods, tools, disciplines, etc.
A civil engineering curriculum and the corresponding structural analysis syllabus have to recognize the above realities
and justify its own design philosophy. Clearly, a justification cannot be based on tradition and the argument that quick
change may be bad, but by a sound analysis of the rationale of the program and the shape of things to come in terms of
the impact of technology on engineering and changing societal demands from engineers.
3. Trends In Civil Engineering Education Towards the New Millenium
We need to recognize that there have been only very incremental advances in civil /engineering education and practice
until the technology explosion following the 1950's. Engineering has been taught worldwide through a process of
apprenticeship until a few programs in the US advocated and started to implement the “science-based” approach to
engineering education in the 1950's.
According to Hazelrigg, Systems Engineering: An Approach To Information-Based Design, Prentice Hall International
Series In Industrial and Systems Engineering, 1996, ‘the word “university” is derived from the Greek “universe”, meaning
all or everything, and the Greeks thought of the university as a place where one would learn about everything. But, oddly,
apprenticed skills such as engineering were not thought to be included in the topics appropriate for a university. The
word “polytechnic” derives from the Greek words “polys” meaning many, and “technik”, meaning art or craft: hence,
many arts.
Engineering was taught in the French polytechnic. Toward the end of Napoleonic wars, the military engineers who had
been educated in the polytechnic found themselves in the public disfavor. They felt that their education made them useful
to society, yet there was a stigma attached to them. So they found a new name to call them, a name that drew as great a
distinction between them and the military as they could imagine. They called themselves civil engineers.
The French polytechnic system was copied in the United States as the land-grant college system, formalized by the
Morrill Act of 1862, which included curricula in both military engineering and agriculture: hence the A&M colleges.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute became the first U.S. institution to award a degree in engineering in 1824. From that time
through World War II, there was little change in the teaching of engineering. Largely engineers educated to the Masters
level taught engineering.
But World War II changed forever the perception of engineering. The war was widely recognized as a technological battle
that was won by engineers and scientists. Working on mega-projects such as the radar and the atomic bomb. These
projects advanced technology so rapidly that the Allies gained an awesome advantage in military power, and the
possibilities afforded through concentrations of engineering research and development became entirely apparent. In 1950,
the National Science Foundation was created, and together with other Federal agencies, provided a continuing stream of
funds for advancing technology.
Around 1950, Karl Compton, a famous Nobel physicist, became the president of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He observed that technology had begun to advance too fast to pass down from generation to generation by
a process that still had a substantial element of apprenticeship. ‘
We also know that following MIT’s example, a number of distinguished universities such as CALTECH, COLUMBIA,
several campuses of the University of California system, Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pennsylvania
became schools of “Applied Science,” some even dropping “Engineering” from the name of their programs. These
5universities now teach “applied science” as their engineering curriculum, hence the term “science-based engineering
education.” The understanding implicit in such an education is that upon graduation, an engineer must obtain experience
(that is, become an apprentice) to round out ones’ education.
We have to recognize that over 90 % of the nearly 250 colleges in the U.S. which offer civil-engineering degrees have
come under ABET (The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), ASEE (American Society for Engineering
Education) and ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) as umbrella organizations for shaping their educational
philosophies, faculty profiles and course programs. These schools typically hire their faculty from the pool of PhD’s
graduating from colleges, which have been pursuing a science-based education, and they educate over 95% of the civil
engineers joining the profession.
During the last decade ASCE and the NSF (National Science Foundation) fostered significant effort towards a re-thinking
of civil engineering education. Several meetings focusing on civil engineering education followed the 1995 Civil
Engineering Education Conference (CEEC >95) in Denver, CO. The Executive Summary from this conference states:
‘The purpose of civil engineering education is to provide the initial knowledge, skills, and learning base necessary
to enhance the quality of life for all people. Civil engineers also provide leadership in developing a sustainable
constructed environment and other civil engineering systems. The first fundamental canon of ASCE’s Code of
Ethics states that “Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in the performance
of their professional duties”.
The following definition of the civil engineering baccalaureate degree followed: “The intellectual foundation of the civil
engineering baccalaureate degree should be broad, well-rounded, multi-disciplinary, and strong in technical and scientific
knowledge. Undergraduates should be exposed to: (1) a global vision and approach to problem identification and problem
solving in areas such as infrastructure, environment, facilities, and, systems; (2) a basic management knowledge base in
areas such as business, resources, personnel management, communication skills, costs and value judgements, and time
management; (3) a solid foundation in personal and inter-personal attributes, ethics, and (4) an involvement with
engineering practice as the formal education evolves.”
During the 1998 ASCE Convention in Boston, a Session was organized on: “Civil Engineering Education Beyond 2000.”
by J. Yao, who has been a mentor to the writer after 1984 (http://lohman.tamu.edu). In their paper entitled “Civil
Engineering Education in the 21st Century,” (the late) Walter Moore, Jose Roesset and James Yao provide an excellent
overview of the issues, which have to be resolved for improving the state-of-the-practice in civil engineering education.
They assert that:
§ Teaching (and not research) is the most important function of a university;
§ Faculty members must keep themselves up-to-date by getting actively involved in research activities;
§ Practitioners should become more involved in education by (1) becoming full-time or part-time teachers,
(2) serving as mentors for students, faculty, and newer engineers; and, (3) serving as ABET evaluators;
§ Faculty members should serve as role-models for their students by being (1) enthusiastic in their
professional endeavors, (2) keeping up-to-date in the state-of-the-art in research and practice, and (3)
pursuing life-long learning
It is timely to implement the many things that we have been talking about during these past several decades.
We have to conclude that it is not possible to prescribe a perfect curriculum or syllabus in more precise terms than the
above. The charter (the vision for its founding), the vision (or lack of) defining the current value systems that govern the
operating policies of a university, the quality of the leadership provided by the college of engineering administration, the
composition of faculty, the students and student pool, and, inevitably, the geographic location, the demographics and the
traditional interactions between the university and the society especially in the case of urban universities all play a
6significant role in defining an optimum curriculum. Another key factor would be the strength of graduate programs and
research. We note that without strong research aimed at pushing the frontiers of the state-of-the-art further, many of the
requirements for a desirable baccalaureate education are very difficult to fulfill. While every university should not and
cannot aspire to become an ivy-league institution offering a science-based or even systems -based education, it is not
possible to envision a high-impact university without at least a number of well-established research focal areas.
3.1 Capstone Design as a Principal Element of Civil Engineering Education
In order to conclude the discussion of educational trends, the writer would like to focus on the “capstone design”
requirement which has been adapted by most of the civil engineering programs in the country at the beginning of this
decade following ABET’s recommendations. A capstone design experience, if designed and resourced with seasoned
practicing engineers, and if it is guided to conclude with an actual (as opposed to a fictitious, just on-paper) product,
indeed creates an exceptional opportunity to introduce most of the elements in education which have been identified as
desirable and necessary:
1. Experiencing the full cycle of realization of a constructed facility structural design process by actually constructing a
structure and testing its performance in an integrated setting (group members coming from different specializations)
2. Cooperative learning (According to Johnson, Johnson and Smith, “Maximizing Interaction Through Cooperative
Learning, ASEE PRISM, Feb 98, pp24-29, this includes: (a) Positive interdependence, (b) individual accountability, (c)
face-to-face promotive interaction, (d) use of teamwork skills, i.e. leadership, decision-making, trust-building,
communication, conflict-management; (e) group processing).
3. Project management
4. Construction management
5. Individual and group communication related to the realization of a structural system taking advantage of 3D
visualization, CAD, and actual physical models
6. Entrepreneurial skills - convincing a sponsor to donate materials and fabricate
7. Fundamentals of Structural Design: Structural form, member shapes, analysis, optimization, force-flow, stability,
connections, supports, design-fabrication-shop drawings, communications with a fabricator, testing, retrofit, etc.
8. Opportunity of actually designing, constructing, erecting, instrumenting, testing and validating a physical structural
model, appraising the success of other teams, and learning from its failure!
9. Information management skills through the documentation of the process and the plans, drawings, etc. which are
created along the process of design and construction
The writer has been advising teams which participate in the “steel-bridge” competition, which has been carried out under
the auspices of AISC and ASCE for the past decade or so. In this competition a set of project requirements are issued to
all schools in the country, for a team to design and construct a 20 feet-long and 12 feet-high approximately 1/10-scale
model of a one-span steel bridge. Teams compete regionally and nationally, erecting bridges they design and fabricate
with assistance from contractors. Bridges are proof-tested under lateral and gravity loads, and are evaluated based on
weight, stiffness, erection speed and aesthetics.
Up to five students make up a team. Each team picks a leader, a project-manager and a construction-manager in addition
to structural analysis, design and CAD experts who may all be the same person. The teams go through the elements of the
following design process, which is based on a contemporary design-built-operate-manage approach:
73.2 Design Process for Civil and Environmental Engineering Systems
1. Evaluation of social, economic, political and legal constraints, sustainability and public policy issues which impact the
design. Initial versus lifecycle cost concepts. Financing plan for construction and operation.
2. Conceptual planning. Financing, technical, environmental and site-related constraints.
3. Project specifications. Codes, commentaries, ancillary documents, performance implicit in codes and additional
qualitative performance specifications by users/owners.
4. Regional and site-specific studies including the climate, weather, wind, chemical, biological, seismicity and soil
evaluations for quantifying the natural loading environment.
5. Quantifying performance through objective indices. Operation, structural serviceability, fatigue, system-safety and
stability, durability, adaptability to changing operational environment and aesthetics are considered as interrelated
performance categories to be explicitly quantified. Specifications for a operational and structural health-monitoring system
which will ensure a real-time, on-line monitoring of the critical systems performance of the facility, and provide data and
information for its management.
5. Preliminary design: Geotechnical, foundation, structural layout, materials, initial proportioning, fabrication and
construction processes and environmental impact studies. Here, a reliable idealization of the soil-foundation-structural
systems and the loading environment for conducting “approximate analysis ” constitutes the basic analytical skill
requirement.
6. Final design: Materials, proportioning, detailing, finishing and connections for durability. Design plans, drawings and
documents. Design of the health-management system including sensors, data-acquisition, information management and
human interface systems.
7. Construction process design, plans, drawings and documents. This step includes the installation plans for the health-
management system in the course of construction.
8. Verification of final design and construction process design through analysis and if necessary, physical model testing.
Nominal analysis of a 3D model, including dynamic, limit and stepwise nonlinear analysis, for verification of structural
performance during construction and at the service, damage and ultimate limit-states. Iterations between Steps 6-8 may be
necessary.
9. Shop drawings, fabrication and construction processes. Construction monitoring (site, soil and structure), materials
sampling and testing and documentation of the as-built facility. Structural identification of the as-built facility and
establishing the baseline and the initial conditions for the health-management system. Initiate health-monitoring for the
accumulation of instrinsic forces and distortions.
10. Operational and structural-health monitoring and an integrated asset management. This stage includes measuring
and evaluating the natural and environmental influences and loading inputs to the facility with the corresponding
responses (in real-time), decision and action systems for optimum operation, and response to operational incidents,
overloading, disasters, etc. Operational and structural health monitoring for an integrated asset management approach to
infrastructure systems is the writer’s current research focal area. The most critical issues in this emerging research area
have been discussed in recent publications (Aktan, A.E., et al, “Structural Identification For Condition Assessment:
Experimental Arts,” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, December 1997; Aktan A.E., et al, “Structural Identification:
Analytical Aspects,” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, August 1998; Aktan, A.E., et al, “Issues In Health-
Monitoring For Intelligent Infrastructure,” Journal of Smart Materials and Structures, Vol. 7, No. 5, Oct., 1998, pp: 674-692).
Students participating in the steel-bridge competition gain the opportunity of experiencing the most critical elements of
each step of the process. This experience gives the writer and his graduate students and research associates an excellent
8opportunity to work with and mentor a group(s) of graduating seniors, some of which have stayed for graduate studies.
Writer’s experience is that a Capstone Design course which takes advantage of the fabrication and proof-testing of an
actual physical-model of a structure offers unique advantages for education, and for integrating a hands-on, just-in-time
teaching of the application of structural analysis. Hence, assuming that computer skills for productivity, statics, strength
of materials and structural materials (including laboratory) subjects have been taken, it would be possible to design a
structural analysis course as discussed in the following.
3.3 Syllabus of a Suggested Structural Analysis Class to Precede Capstone Design:
1. Structural forms and systems and the related materials
2. Analytical modeling concepts for approximate analysis
3. Computer-based structural-analysis modeling concepts, software
4. Evaluation of structural state and stability concepts
5. Analysis of determinate trusses, beams, frames, arches and cable systems
6. Displacement and force superposition concepts for analysis of indeterminate systems
In the course of the Capstone Design course, in addition to the elements related to the design of the steel-bridge, which is
discussed above, a number of additional topics would be covered in a generic format as suggested in the following.
3.4 Subjects to be Discussed In a Generic Format During Capstone Design:
1. Structural design philosophies and approaches, history of codes and design documents
2. Design loads and their background
3. Design demands and corresponding capacities at the section, element and system levels
4. Influence coefficients, software for design analysis
5. CAD and visualization-solid modeling principles, software
6. RC and PC concepts, applications at the element level
7. Steel design concepts, applications at the element level
8. Substructure and foundation design concepts, applications at the element level
4. Problems Civil Engineers Have to Solve In the New Millennium
4.1 Funding Civil Engineering Research and Education
According to Fertis (Historical Evolutions of Infrastructure, Vantage Press, NY, 1998), the Greek philosopher Socrates
states that: “individuals should support the concept of community and the responsibilities it entails. Chief among the
responsibilities is the provision of infrastructure and the services it provides.” Indeed, an important distinction of the
civil engineers is their engagement in public sector, i.e. the community, in overwhelming numbers. There has been little
corporate sponsorship for civil engineering education and research in the U.S., particularly given the fragmented nature of
the construction industry. We note a very different practice in Japan where the construction companies have been
9effective sponsors and conductors of research and development. The lack of corporate sponsorship for research, and the
lack of sufficient mechanisms for adequate public agency championship, leadership and support have been a critical
factor affecting the quality of civil engineering education in the U.S. as we enter the new Millenium.
To better exemplify the above, consider the state-of-the-art in the electronics, computer and communications industries in
the U.S., Europe and Japan. This industry drives the educational process, through corporate sponsorship, heavily
influencing the quality of research and education. Given the traditional lack of interest and support by the construction
and materials industries, one would at least hope to find public-sector championship for investing in education and
research in this critical profession. However, the writer has not met many public officials in charge of infrastructure and
who has admitted a need for research and serving as a champion for funding of deserving researchers in academe. If
building owners, county engineers, city engineers, state DOT engineers and engineers at various bi-state bridge
authorities were as proactive and supportive for quality in civil engineering research and education as say drug and
chemical companies are for chemical engineering programs, the state-of-the-art in civil engineering in the U.S. would have
reached a very different level.
The 1985 ASCE Education Conference identified the environment and infrastructure as the two major societal problems in
the new millennium. In environmental engineering, extensive support has been available through the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) of the federal government in U.S. in the last decade (while this realization has been lacking in
most developing countries). EPA is mandated to spend significant amounts on research by industry and academe every
year in areas deemed important for the society by policy-makers. Unfortunately, there is no such federally mandated
funding for civil engineering research.
During the 1970's, the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) funded by the US Congress and
administered by NSF, FEMA, USGS and NIST has been quite effective in funding planning, research and education in
earthquake disaster mitigation. “Earthquake engineers” generated some of the most effective structural, geotechnical and
seismological research tools and knowledge in the last two decades. A similar initiative is needed today to attack the
problem of infrastructure.
4.2 The Civil Infrastructure Systems Problem
The CIS problem may be reviewed from the following aspects:
Operational Performance: The operational performance of most infrastructure systems, such as the transportation
system, have reached a state of congestion affecting productivity and reducing GDP in the U.S. by perhaps more than 1%
(GDP in 1998 was about $8 Trillion).
Serviceability and Durability: The serviceability performance of most CIS, especially in terms of durability, is a major
concern. For example, many new buildings are affected by floor-vibration problems. Many new bridges constructed of
high-strength steel are subjected to excessive vibration, affecting their serviceability performance as well. Buildings are
designed based on a 50-year service life but many systems need extensive rehabilitation in just a decade. Parking garages
require rehabilitation more often. Most short-span highway bridges are designed with a 75-year life yet may require costly
rehabilitation every 20 years. Many long-span cable-stay bridges, which cost $50 Million and more, have needed
extensive structural cable repair costing the same order of magnitude in just a decade.
Safety Concerns: Operational safety and structural safety are two interrelated issues, which are cause for concern. For
example, in the U.S. there are nearly a hundred thousand fracture-critical bridges.
Aesthetics: The significant impact of aesthetics on societal well being cannot be denied.
Effectiveness of Maintenance and Renewal: There is evidence that significant funds spent on maintenance and renewals
are not being effective. Most efforts temporarily eliminate the effects but not the causes of deterioration and damage.
Establishing Life-Cycle Cost: It is very difficult to objectively quantify the life-cycle cost of a large CIS. Such systems are
10financed by public funds coming from many different sources, managed by many agencies having jurisdiction over
system components, and affect the productivity and well being of many societal sectors.
Innovative Procurement: Finance-Design-Built; Design-Built-Operate-Manage, etc are procurement systems which have
potential to positively impact performance. However, the financing, organizational and legal systems have to be modified
and appropriate policies should be championed for such approaches to the procurement of CIS services.
Integrated Asset Management: Application of market-economy principles in conjunction with moderating social and
environmental policy to managing all aspects of CIS decisions. Requires integrated information systems applications and
health-management processes for objective decision-making
Integration of social, environmental and built systems : Following from the need for objective CIS policy and
management, the interrelationships between social, economic and built systems should be clearly identified, characterized
and the parameters should be quantified for rational integrated asset management.
Educating a new breed of engineers: It becomes clear that the performance required from civil infrastructure engineers to
effectively deal with the above societal issues require a new breed of engineer who can understand the systems nature of
CIS performance and preservation, and integrate the policies, strategies, disciplines and technologies.
4.3 Research Needs For CIS:
Given that the single most significant societal challenge to civil engineers in the new Millennium is the CIS performance
and preservation problem, the corresponding curriculum needs may be identified by reviewing the list of corresponding
research needs:
Systems Id: Systems identification is an emerging research and application area, which is needed to generate quantitative
information regarding the state properties, performance and lifecycle cost of CIS.
Modeling of integrated CIS: Simulation of large and complex systems and phenomena has become feasible with recent
advances in computation. However, modeling and characterization of CIS, especially including the interrelationships
between different systems, is a research area requiring significant investment. Reliable simulations of future performance
of a CIS based on its system-identified model are a research area.
Smart materials and systems: This is a current multi-disciplinary research area, which is based on emulating biological
systems in terms of sensing and reacting to stimuli. Taking advantage of designed-materials such as piezo-ceramics,
rheological fluids, shape-memory alloys and fiber-reinforced polymer composites, distributed sensing technologies such
as fiber-optics, and hybrid-control principles and algorithms, structural engineers are exploring systems with exceptional
stiffness to strength ratios which monitor themselves and actively adapt to overloads. Micro-electronic mechanical
devices (MEMS) are considered as future tools for information collection. Significant benefits of smart materials and
systems technologies are expected for CIS performance.
Health-monitoring: A component of smart-system technologies, health monitoring entails real-time measurement of
environmental and natural loading effects and the corresponding structural and operational responses for management
and incident response.
Reliability Evaluation For Service and Safety: Projecting current performance into the future based on the probable
loading environment and possible changes in the facility attributes and capacities.
Deterioration science: Understanding causes and mechanisms for deterioration and their impact on reliability.
Renewal Engineering: Demolition technologies and reconstruction materials and technologies, which will insure proper
upgrading while maintaining compatibility with existing systems.
Information Management: Application of data -processing, data fusion, data mining, pattern recognition, information
11warehousing and information display for management.
Organizational Dynamics and Effectiveness: Organizational design for optimal effectiveness in the delivery of services. It
is desirable to design infrastructure-management organizations in conjunction with the TQM principles implemented by
the Japanese auto industry during the 1970's and more recently after the Six-Sigma principles advocated by the US
electronics industry. For example, following a better alignment with the product it delivers, a state DOT organization may
be redesigned to take advantage of information technologies and to better integrate design, construction, maintenance
and operational activities.
Integration methodologies: Integrating various systems which may share components, intersect or influence each other
has emerged as a most critical research area. Some examples of complex systems which require integrating are: (a)
engineering, sciences and arts; (b) academe, government and industry; (c) infrastructure, environment and social
systems; (d) analysis, experiment and information; (e) space, time and modality characteristics of data; (f) heuristics and
mechanistic knowledge; and, others.
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
The writer has been motivated to take the opportunity of the Ersoy Symposium to evaluate his changing perception of
what was considered to constitute a “contemporary” course on structural analysis through his career as an educator.
Structural analysis is a specialty area, which was especially influenced by the profound social and technological changes
of the last two decades.
The following will govern engineering as we enter the new Millenium:
Computers are integrating computing with hand-held wireless connectivity to networks with vast amounts of data, and
voice-recognition, digital photography and voice and image communication with immense storage and computation
speeds are here.
Simulation of complex phenomena, given the existence of an acceptable analytical model, is not limited by the availability
or cost of computer hardware or software any longer. The issue is structural-identification for reliable analytical modeling
that will become a basis for simulations. Therefore, the true frontier for most civil engineers will no longer be the
methods, tools and software development needs for numerical and computational aspects of analysis. Instead, the
challenge will be in adapting new technologies with appropriate strategies for systems -identification and integration of
civil infrastructure systems. Health-monitoring, integrated health-and-operational management, and, integrated asset
management of civil infrastructure systems will need, foremost, the ability to effectively integrate a multitude of concepts,
skills, approaches, methods, tools, disciplines, etc.
A civil engineering curriculum and the corresponding structural analysis syllabus have to recognize the above realities
and justify its own design philosophy. Clearly, a justification cannot be based on tradition and the argument that quick
change may be bad, but by a sound analysis of the rationale of the program and the shape of things to come in terms of
the impact of technology on engineering and changing societal demands from engineers.
It is not possible to prescribe a perfect curriculum or syllabus in precise terms. The charter (the vision for its founding),
the vision (or lack of) defining the current value systems and which governs the operating policies of a university, the
quality of the leadership provided by the college of engineering administration, the composition of faculty, the students
and student pool, and, inevitably, the geographic location, the demographics and the traditional interactions between the
university and the society especially in the case of urban universities all play a significant role in defining an optimum
curriculum. Another key factor would be the strength of graduate programs and research.
Without strong research aimed at pushing the frontiers of the state-of-the-art further, many of the requirements for a
desirable baccalaureate education are very difficult to fulfill. While every university should not and cannot aspire to
become an ivy-league institution offering a science-based or even systems -based education, it is not possible to envision
12a high-impact university without at least a number of well-established research focal areas.
The best approach to designing the syllabus for a structural analysis course is to integrate this into the capstone design
for Civil and Environmental Engineering Systems. A comprehensive capstone design experience should be guided by
practitioners and faculty together, and should include a real structure or a physical model than just a paper product,
arrived at through the steps: (1) Issues which impact the design; (2) Conceptual planning; (3) Project specifications;
(4) Regional and site-specific studies; (5) Quantifying performance; (5) Preliminary design; (6) Final design; (7)
Construction process design; (8) Verification; (9) Construction; (10) Operational and structural-health monitoring.
The societal needs from civil engineers in the new millennium related to the civil infrastructure systems and the
corresponding challenges from engineers are daunting and it is not reasonable to expect that the present civil engineering
curricula will lead to a workforce, which will meet this challenge. The following research areas are expected to impact the
future practice in civil engineering, and have to be incorporated in a progressive curriculum: (1) Systems Identification;
(2) Modeling of integrated CIS; (3) Smart materials and systems; (4) Health-monitoring; (5) Reliability Evaluation
For Service and Safety; (6) Deterioration science; (7) Renewal Engineering; (8) Information Management; (9)
Organizational Dynamics and Effectiveness; (10) Integration methodologies;
Especially important requirement from civil engineers in the next decade is the ability to integrate various systems, which
may share components, intersect or influence each other, has emerged as a most critical research area. Some exa mples of
complex systems which require integrating are: (1) engineering, sciences and arts; (2) academe, government and
industry; (3) infrastructure, environment and social systems; (4) analysis, experiment and information; (5) space, time
and modality characteristics of data; (6) heuristics and mechanistic knowledge; and, others. To extend this issues
further, clearly no single engineer will be able to provide all of the technology and resource needs in any engineering
project. Therefore, the most important attribute of the civil engineer in the new Millennium will be the ability to lead multi-
disciplinary teams and integrate their contributions into a coherent, useful product. This will not be possible unless the
civil engineer has more than a cursory understanding of what the other engineering and non-engineering disciplines will
bring on to the table.
A final related conclusion is that any civil engineer who will join the workforce in the next Millenium should recognize that
his/her career will be going through the most significant change faced by any engineer, and life-long learning will become
the single most important ability we may provide to the graduating civil engineers as faculty. The writer is very happy to
have the opportunity of practicing a career in research and education in civil engineering at the dawn of the new
Millennium, when the publics need for a new breed of engineer is at its highest in all the Millennia civil engineering has
been practiced.
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