MICA (P) 014/12/2012 Newsletter of IES-IStructE Singapore Group Vol. 9, No. 1, Jan 2013 Conference on Structural Wonders The bi-annual Conference on Structural Wonders of the Singapore Regional Group held on 23 November 2012 was the culmination of more than a year s planning. Speakers included Prof David Nethercot (UK), Matthew Esther (UAE), Dr Luong Vanhai (Vietnam), Robin Sham (Hong Kong) and local speakers from established companies such as Arup, TYLin and Woh Hup. Almost 180 registered participants attended the Conference on Structural Wonders at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel. Prof Nethercot gave the historical background of the IStructE Structural Awards which was launched in 1967. The Structural Awards event has since evolved into the present glitzy one and it is now regarded as the equivalent Oscar awards for structural engineers. (a) (a) (b) (c) (d) Conference speakers: (a) Allan Teo (b) Dr Luong Van Hai (c) Mike King (d) Russell Cole Prof Wang presenting a plaque to Robin Sham & Serena Yap Matthew Esther spoke on the structural wonders in UAE, in particular on the DIFC Lighthouse in Dubai. For this unique structure, he revealed the process behind the design and how the use of technology combined with an engineered approach from first principles resolved a complex structural arrangement into a relatively simple and buildable solution. Dr Luong described the iconic Bitexco Financial Tower and the Crescent Residence 2 of Ho Chi Minh city. Robin Sham passionately shared his experiences in the design and construction of the world s longest cable stayed bridges the Stonecutter Bridge in Hong Kong and the Sutong Bridge in China. Clive Lewis and Mike King gave a wonderful lecture on the National Stadium Roof of the Singapore Sports Hub which is the world s largest free standing dome that spans 310m. Allan Teo explained how the arch-shell grid system for the cooled conservatories of the Gardens by the Bay works while Gunasekaran shared the construction techniques employed for the conservatories. Serena Yap and Iwan Susanto gave an interesting talk on the one-of-kind design of the Interlace for residential apartments. As some of the box-like structures need to span over a considerable distance, the engineers borrowed the ideas used in bridge engineering to make the structural system cost effective. Russell Cole introduced the South Beach Tower development to the audience. The shapes of the towers appear like dancing and pregnant ladies. As the participants listen attentively to structural engineers outlining their experience, many were in awe of the structural splendour and the creative ability of structural engineers. Students who attended the conference (at a special student rate) were swept away by the amazing technical details presented in simple language by eminent engineers To be continued on page 3 1
Dear readers, thanks for taking time to read this newsletter. We appreciate your continued support and would also like to hear from you for whatever reasons. Please direct all your correspondence and inquiries to: IES-IStructE Joint Committee Prof Wang Chien Ming (Chairman): ceewcm@nus.edu.sg Er. Dr. Ho Kwong Meng (Vice Chairman): hokm@starhub.net.sg A/Prof Lok Tat Seng (Hon. Secretary): ctslok@ntu.edu.sg Dr Boh Jaw Woei (Hon. Treasurer): jwboh@hotmail.com Er Reve Chin (Asst. Hon. Secretary): Jen_yee_chin@hotmail.com Er Ms Jeslin Quek ( Asst. Hon. Treasurer): jeslinquek@fyfeasia.com Er Wijaya Wong Wijaya@arup.com Er Mak Yew Cheong Mak.yew.cheong@pmlink.com.sg Er Mah Guan Pang admin@mabaengineering Er Ang Chee Keong angcheekeong@gmail.com Er Seow Hong Chiow hcseow83@gmail.com Er Steve Yeung Steve.Yeung@WorleyParsons.com Er Ms Cong Zheng Xia cong_zx@wohhup.com Er Kang Jianhan jianhankang@gmail.com Er Sam Tan Gak Peng: tangakpeng@yahoo.com.sg Dr Kong Kian Hau kongkianhau@gmail.com Congratulations to our Fellow for receiving 2012 National Day Award The Chairman and members of the Singapore Regional Group congratulate A/Prof Francis Lok on the conferment of the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Gangsa) [i.e. Public Administration Medal (Bronze)] by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Singapore, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam, at a National Day Award Investiture Ceremony held on 11 th November 2012. The Structuralist Editorial Committee Editors: Dr Kong Kian Hau & Er Kang Jianhan Advisors: Prof Wang Chien Ming A/Prof Lok Tat Seng Contents & Contributors 1. Conference on Structural Wonders 23 Nov 2012 (CM Wang) 2. Congratulations to our Fellow for receiving 2012 National Day Awards (TS Lok) 3. Happy New Year Greetings from IES-IStructE Joint Committee 4. Announcement: - One Day Course on Structural Fire Engineering Design 5. Announcement: - IStructE CME Preparatory Course 6. NUS Engineering Science Programme (ESP) Competition: Construction and Testing of Earthquake-Resistant Towers (SJ Koh) 7. International Interest Group (TS Lok) 8. IStructE Subscription for Joint IES-IStructE Membership wef 1st January 2013. Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed therein are solely those of the writers and its publication does not necessarily imply that such views and opinions are endorsed by the IES, IES/IStructE Joint Committee and the editorial committee of The Structuralist. Copyright: The reproduction in whole or in part of any material in this publication must obtain written permission from the editorial committee of this publication and/or from the respective author(s). The IES-IStructE Joint Committee wishes all members a Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year 2013 Upcoming Talks (2013) Symposium on Structural & Architectural Textiles (SAT), April 2013 by Muiltimedia Engineering. Venue: Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Speakers amongst others: Ingo Thalhammer & Chetan Doshi (SEFAR), Dr Phang (MEPL) Singapore and Dr Greiner (ART ENG.) Germany Design and Construction of Civil and Infrastructural Engineering Projects, 27 March 2013 by IES Overseas Chapters & IES/IStructE Joint Committee. Venue: Furama City Centre Hotel. Speakers amongst others: Prof CM Wang (NUS), Prof David Chua (NUS), Er Tan Gak Peng (Ryobi Kiso), Er Mok Chin Kit and Er Gan Chin Hwi 2
Vol. 9 No. 1 Jan 2013 Page 3 Continued from Page 1 Singapore Structural Awards 2012 The IStructE Singapore Structural Awards 2012 were given out during the conference banquet which was attended by some 190 guests. Owing to numerous submissions, the judging panel has decided to dish out five awards for 2012. They are: Commendation Awards for Special Structures that went to the ArtScience Museum by Arup Singapore and the Super Trees at the Gardensby-the Bay by Atelier One and Meinhardt Award for Special Structures went to the Cooled Conservatories at the Gardens-by-the Bay by Atelier One, Meinhardt and Woh Hup Award for Buildings went to 137 Market Street by Web Structures Award for Infrastructure went to My Waterway @Punggol by the Housing Development Board Audience at the Conference of Structural Wonders Introduction to the Singapore Structural Awards by A/Prof. Lok T.S The IES/IStructE Joint Committee congratulates all the aforementioned winners on their wonderful achievements and encourages them to submit their structures for consideration for the IStructE Structural Awards 2013. (a) (b) (c) A few of the icons of Singapore Structural Awards 2012 (a) ArtScience Museum @ Marina Bay Sands (b) Super Trees @ Gardens by the Bay (c) Cooled Conservatories @ Gardens by the Bay
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Vol. 9 No. 1 Jan 2013 Page 5 Venue: The Institution of Engineers, Singapore, 70 Bukit Tinggi Road Singapore 289758 Fee: $95 (inclusive of GST and light refreshments) Organiser: IES/IStructE Joint Committee Co-ordinator: Er. Steve Yeung This course is aimed to help the IStructE Chartered Membership Examination candidates prepare for the forthcoming examination in April 2012. The course will be conducted over two sessions: Session 1: Saturday 23 rd Feb 2013 Time: 1:30 pm 5:30 pm Tutors who successfully passed the CM Exam in recent years will collectively conduct this session on: Preparation for the exam Exam techniques and time management Marking scheme and failure points Explanation on what the Examiners look for when marking the exam scripts and what the common pitfalls are Discussion on past exam questions The tutors will talk through the questions they attempted in the actual exams, e.g. structural concepts development, details, drawings, such that candidates can appreciate how to present the solution with an appropriate level of details during the exam Session 2: Saturday 16 th Mar 2013 Time: 1:30 pm 5:30 pm Discussion on past exam questions The tutors will talk through a number of other past exam questions and solutions Mock exam Candidates will be asked to attempt parts of some past exam questions, followed by discussion on the solutions. Tutor Details: IES/IStructE Joint Committee The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) Chartered Membership Examination Preparatory Course Kong Kian Hau Civil & Structural Design Manager, DP Engineers Pte Ltd (Singapore) Kian Hau has 13 years of experience in civil & structural engineering. He graduated from NUS with a 1 st Class Honours Degree in Civil Engineering in 1999 and a PhD in Structural Engineering in 2004. He was awarded the NUS President s Graduate Fellowship in 2002 and obtained his Chartered Member of IStructE in 2012. He has extensive practical experience as a site/resident engineer, and worked as design and project engineer in residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and master planning projects in Singapore as well as overseas. Reve Chin Jen Yee Lead Civil & Structural Engineer, WorleyParsons Pte Ltd (Singapore) Reve graduated from Nanyang Technological University with Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Hons) in 2002 and obtained Master of Science (Civil Engineering) in 2006. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Singapore and Member of IStructE. Some of his notable projects include Marina Bay Sands Hotel Towers, Circle Line Stage 3, Sentosa Cove residential buildings and KLCC Hotel. Currently, Reve is the Lead Engineer for two power plant projects on Jurong Island. Steve Yeung Manager of Projects, WorleyParsons Pte Ltd (Singapore) Steve graduated from the University of Sydney, Australia with Bachelor (Hons) and Master of Engineering Degrees, and has over 20 years experience in the offshore oil-&-gas, mining and power generation industries. He has worked as structural design engineer, project engineer, lead engineer and engineering manager. He commenced his career in Australia before relocating to Singapore in 1999. Steve is a registered Professional Engineer in Singapore and became a Chartered Member of IStructE in 2006, and is currently a Marking Examiner for the IStructE to mark CM Exam scripts. Please register online at IES website by Wed 20 th Feb 2013. The registration form may be obtained from Raymond Khoo (Email: raymond@iesnet.org.sg Tel: 6461 1222)
Vol. 9 No. 1 Jan 2013 Page 6 NUS Engineering Science Programme (ESP) Competition: Construction and Testing of Earthquake-Resistant Towers by Dr Koh Soo Jin Adrian (ESP Lecturer and Supervisor) This was the first of many design projects that ESP students have to undertake as part of the curriculum. The students are required to fulfil two objectives: to determine the Young s Modulus of two types of wooden sticks with different stiffnesses using a beambending experiment, and to construct a tower with a restricted number of wooden sticks to resist horizontal base acceleration. Prof. Wang Chien Ming delivered a lecture on beam theory, which spurred the students to think deeply into designing their beam experiments and collection of data to determine the Young s modulus. The competitors displayed great resourcefulness, including sourcing for product information of the wooden sticks. Ultimately, they found the properties of Balsa and Bass wood. Armed with the properties of both types of wood, the students proceeded to design, analyse and construct the model tower. Lectures on the fundamentals of structural dynamics and the Finite Element Method were presented to the students. All the teams were aware that their structure should have a fundamental frequency in excess of the maximum prescribed base excitation frequency of 5.0 Hertz. They are also aware that their towers should be designed for good shear resistance near the base, and minimize deflection at the upper floors. Most teams are conscious of imperfect workmanship, which may result in a less-than-perfect structure compared to the one analyzed by the software. Some teams identified the possibility of columns buckling under compressive load and dynamic excitation. The eventual winner was a tower designed by the team consisting of Siah Kien Wei, Ang Zhen Yang, Ho Shuyuan, Tan Si Jie Elain and Loh Chee Liang, which sustained a peak horizontal acceleration of 1250 gals (equivalent to a scale of 10 on the Richter scale). On behalf of my students, I wish to thank IStructE Singapore Regional Group for sponsoring the prizes for the top three winning teams. 1st 3rd 2nd Wooden towers constructed by the students, before commencement of the shake-table test. The designs for the eventual top three are labeled.
Vol. 9 No. 1 Jan 2013 Page 7 International Interest Group (IIG) by Dr Francis Lok, Hon-Secretary, Singapore Regional Group and Chairman, IStructE International Interest Group The IStructE International Interest Group (IIG) comprises representatives (Chairman, elected Council and appointed members) from Local and International Regional Groups. IIG members usually meet for about two hours prior to the Council meeting to deliberate on various international issues, new initiatives and for the respective representatives of countries/regional groups to report on the developments pertaining to membership and other relevant international matters. The important points and new initiatives discussed at the IIG meeting are then summarised and reported by the Chairman of the IIG to Council. As Singapore members may be aware, I am an elected Council member (2012-2014) and an appointed Chairman of the International Interest Group (wef January 2013). In all IIG meetings, it is expected that representatives from various countries [e.g. Singapore, Malaysia, PR China, Hong Kong, Australia (Victoria, New South Wales), Canada (British Columbia and Ontario), United States, South Africa, Caribbean, United Arab Emirates, India and Council members from Northern Ireland, Scotland and UK Regional Groups] would be available to report accordingly. Prof CM Wang, as Chairman of the Singapore Regional Group, is Singapore s representative in the IIG. Discussions in the IIG are wide ranging but one of the topics of discussion is the International Comparability Exercise. Other areas of interest within the IIG are the Global Earthquake Model, Chartered Membership Exam Paper, Disaster Mitigation/Management and International Employment Opportunities. I am focusing on the International Comparability Exercise because this topic appears to stir up most interest and emotion of members of the Institution. The exercise was suggested at an earlier meeting in November 2012 where a number of representatives were requested to brief HQ on the demands of registration and licensing of Practising Engineers in their respective countries. The catalyst for the exercise stemmed from the successful Supplementary Paper taken by PRC Class 1 Structural Engineers in March 2012. This was the first supplementary examination under a new arrangement between IStructE and the Practice Qualification Registration Centre of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of PR China (PQRC). The International Comparability Exercise is intended to determine whether Supplementary Papers could be developed for countries where there is comparability with PR China or another country s system. PRC will be conducting their second Supplementary Paper in March 2013. I suggest that Singapore-registered PEs should not be left behind. In November 2012, I briefly outlined the current Singapore PE registration system but this needed broader exposure of different PR-registration systems (if they exist at all) around the globe. Connected to this exercise is the case for mandatory CPD. Singapore is held occasionally as an exemplar since CPD is compulsory for Registered PEs needing a Practising Certificate to conduct their daily work of providing professional engineering services to the community. As an example, let s compare the PR China and Singapore registration system. I suggest that our two PE examination systems are very similar, including the CPD requirement. An exception is that PRC Class 1 Structural Engineers cannot practice independently Structural Engineers must practice within a registered Design Institute. Another contrasting difference is that the PRC CPD system is initiated by PQRC, whereas the Singapore CPD system is based on approval of an application to PEB (seeking approval based on a scheduled programme relevant to the field of engineering). I have charted a timetable for representatives to make a presentation on Registration and Licensing of Professional Engineers in their respective countries at each meeting of the IIG in January, July and November. Each presentation should also include details of continuing education by practising professional engineers. For example, some countries require the number of CPD points to be acquired per year and others are over a three-year period. The number of points varies from country to country but may not have the same system (in Singapore, the minimum points are 15 structured and 25 non-structured per year). In January 2013, S. Africa, Australia and Singapore presented their requirements on Registration and Licensing of Professional Engineers. Soon, these details (powerpoint files, documents, legislation materials, etc.) will be uploaded into a special IStructE website for each country, and these will be available to all IStructE members. Indeed, the suggestion is that such information should be made public. I have tasked the representatives of the next three countries to make their presentation in July 2013. They are Malaysia, Canada and USA. In time, PR China, HK, Taiwan, Korea, UAE, Caribbean, India, Sri Lanka, etc., would be added to the long list of countries. Readers may also be aware that Scotland has a registration and compulsory-cpd system. This and other details will be available in due time and the trend on registration and compulsory continuing education will be clearer. Readers will appreciate that each country has its own system of registration some resulting from historical perspective while others are progressive. However we view the systems, some will say that it is fundamentally protectionism. As a professional engineer, I take the view that public safety, professionalism in our daily work and continuing education as essential pillars to sustain the profession of structural engineers. I hope this brief note would stir debate on registration and licensing of professional engineers within the Institution as much as we had in our respective Regions.
Vol. 9 No. 1 Jan 2013 Page 8 IStructE Subscription for Joint IES-IStructE Membership with effect from 1 st January 2013