2008 IDEERS (Introducing and Demonstrating Earthquake Engineering Research in School)

25 – 28 Sept 2008
Taipei

IDEERS Earthquake Engineering Competition

IDEERS is a competition for students to design and make a scale model of a building, which must resist earthquakes simulated on a shaking-table, i.e. a research laboratory facility for testing structures. Dr Wendy Daniell and Dr Adam Crewe from the University of Bristol, developed IDEERS, with EPSRC funding, originally for secondary school students in the UK. However, it has been run since with undergraduate and postgraduate civil engineering students in the UK and abroad due to its open-end nature. We have been continuously working with University of Bristol and National Centre for Research on Earthquake Engineering to run the IDEERS competition from 2001 to 2007, and promoted the scale of competition from national to international level. In the past 5 years, the international teams included UK, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, New Zealand, and USA. The teams came to Taiwan with one facilitator to experience the earthquake engineering and they all had learnt a lot and enjoy the educational and cultural trip here.

The challenge requires students to conduct their own research into the dynamic behaviour of buildings and how they can be designed to be earthquake resistant. It also encourages them to build and test a number of designs in advance of the competition in Taipei. The IDEERS web-site (www.ideers.bris.ac.uk) provides a supporting educational resource giving information on the effects of earthquakes on buildings, seismic design, techniques for making the models, and simple static tests to simulate earthquake loads on their models.

The competition is a two-day event: day one - teams construct their models against the clock to previously planned designs; day two – models will be displayed with brief description for participants to exchange ideas, then the models will be mounted in shaking-table shaken to destruction, and the best-designed models will in prizes. (please see all the relevant rules and regulations on the NCREE web site http://w3.ncree.org/ideers/2008/ )



Foreign participants

We would like to extend our cordial invitation to all East Asia regional countries and countries that might find this event of their interests.



Programme Briefing

· Competition is held in three tiers: Senior High School, Under Graduates and Post Graduates, 4 members each team.

· All PG teams (foreign and domestic) are to be invited to participate in the IDEERS international seminar on 26 Sept to share their research subject / model design concept, UG teams are welcome to join!

· A day trip to earthquake engineering related construction, such as ShihKang Dam, 921 Earthquake Park and Taipei 101 – the highest building in the world, will be arranged for international participants accordingly.


Packages for foreign representatives

· 5 nights accommodation plus all meals,

· Day trip and group transportation.

· We will be able to cover for the teacher who is leading the high school team (one team one teacher)



On-line application deadline for international team

31 July 2008

http://www.ncree.org/