IRES- Summer Research in Valencia, SpainWhy Civil-Engineering?The experience of growing up in The Gambia was one of my motivations to study civil engineering. Seeing major buildings and structures built with minimal mathematical or scientific basis has always puzzled me and inspired me to make a difference. From an early age, I found myself fascinated with technical projects, especially construction. I would spend most of my time after school watching construction crews near our house or in my neighborhood. After heavy rains in the summer, I would dig small conduit to drain the stagnant water in our backyard. I made the decision to pursue Civil Engineering after graduating from high school. After completion of my undergraduate studies, I would like to find a part-time job in civil engineering to gain experience in the field and pursue a graduate degree in Civil Engineering with a focus in structural analysis. Amongst my plans is to become professional structural and ultimately a professor to help influence the engineers of the future.
Every day I wake up with a desire to contribute to the overall goal of civil engineering, which is to meet the structural and technical demands of society. This goal cannot be met unless extensive research is undertaken to understand the needs of the present and figure out ways to satisfy them without compromising the future and also understanding the challenges of tomorrow. As we face the threats of natural, man-made, and accidental disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, terrorism, flood, fires, etc. the civil engineer is challenged to answer to the call.
The importance of research in hazard mitigation for civil infrastructures should not be underestimated. Until we can significantly mitigate such disasters, there is a great deal of work to be done.
I am extremely glad for being granted the opportunity to participate in National Science Foundation (NSF) funded IRES- Research opportunity in the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain. My Research focusses on the design of Pile caps to mitigate risk due to exposure to static loading. Under this project we will design and construct several pile caps using the model provided by the Strut and Tie model, the American Concrete Institude (ACI) recommendation for the construction of pile caps and the Spainish code recommendation. The piles will be cured and tested under a static load to compare the behavior and failure mode of each and use the results to recommend the best design nethod to be used for concrete pile cap design. Piles are used extensively in several projects such as bridges and tall structures. Understanding such a critical structural component can do a great deal in increasing the resiliency of certain structures. This will provide me with research and collaborative skills especially on an international scale. |
Culture |
I have had the opportunity to meet the nicest people in the world. Whenever I get lost in the city, there is always somebody willing to take their time to help me find my way. We had a very friendly landlord whom we nicknamed "Maximo-minimo". He came to our apartment on our first two days and spent at least 30 minutes giving each of us instructions in Spanish on how to use his appliances. Did I mention, that was after we told him we can't understand him, so after his long lecture, the only words I picked from him were "maximo" and "minimo" hence the name.
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Career Aspirations
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The research I am working on is primarily focused on the design of pile caps to mitigate structural hazards resulting from static loading. The various projects ongoing in Valencia havr shed light on how many topics in the civil-engineering discipline are still vague and need more effort to achieve greater understanding and implement innovative solutions. Touring some of the oldest structures in Spain further instilled in me the desire to become a great engineer and help to solve the structural challenges faced by society.
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Outcomes |
After going through my orientation week, I was given a draft of the plan for the various rebar carpet configurations and details. The plans for the rebar cages were already drafted, but my mentor wanted me to redraw it using AutoCAD for practice. Since I had a basic knowledge of AutoCAD for previous classes, it was not too hard to perform the task. One of the things I learned was easier ways and other shortcuts to accomplish certain tasks at a much shorter time and with ease. I worked with the research team to tie the rebars for the pile caps based on the specifications on the blueprint. The rebar cages for the pile caps were designed using the general Strut-and-Tie model, ACI recommendation, and the Spanish code that all have slight variations. The tying was not an easy task since the wire had to be tied a certain way around the rebar to ensure stability and keep the rebars from losing the spacing set between them. Following the blueprint we grounded flat surfaces at certain points on the rebars to connect strain gages. I have heard about strain gages before but this was the first time I had the opportunity to work with them. The strain gages were very tiny, rectangular flat, sheets composing of a very tiny coil of wire. When the rebar elongates, the change in separation of the coil causes a change in electrical resistance. The change in resistance is interpreted in terms of strain. I learned the factors to determine when selecting a set of strain gages such as Gage Factor and the proper procedure to attack them to the rebars.
In my soil Mechanics class, pile foundations were discussed, but for pile caps, this was a completely new concept to me. It was interesting to know how critical a relatively small structural element compared to the substructure and superstructure is. For this project, we used the 3D-Strut and Tie model to analyze the pile caps. The method itself was a completely new concept to be but was interesting since it is a way of analyzing the structure as a truss system.
In my soil Mechanics class, pile foundations were discussed, but for pile caps, this was a completely new concept to me. It was interesting to know how critical a relatively small structural element compared to the substructure and superstructure is. For this project, we used the 3D-Strut and Tie model to analyze the pile caps. The method itself was a completely new concept to be but was interesting since it is a way of analyzing the structure as a truss system.
The project; Experimental Design of Pile Caps was a challenge. There was no way I would have had any idea of what was going on without having a great foundation in courses like statics, mechanics of materials, material science, and structural analysis. These knowledge and skills I learned from these classes played a pivotal role in helping me on my research. The basics I have learned in my AutoCAD class made it easy for me to recreate the rebar configuration plans, hence making the task more of a mind refreshing task. Without this prior experience, it would have been extremely difficult. In my structural analysis class, I was exposed to certain sections of the ACI manual which was a great introduction to reading design codes. This experience made it easier to ACI code and Spanish code to find design specifications and recommendations for my research project. Reading such design codes is a no-easy task sometimes since some sections will give recommendations based on the acceptance or rejections of conditions given in another section. When casting the concrete pile caps, six concrete cylinders were cast using a three-layered method and rodding each layer. The concrete cylinders were cured for various compressive and flexural strength tests. All of these tests on fresh and hardened concrete were well covered theoretically and practically in my Civil Engineering materials class. So my mentors did not have any issue in letting me perform these tasks independently.
There were a few challenges that I encountered in research. One of which was that the Spanish Concrete Code was in Spanish, so it was hard to find certain things. I counted on google translate application to read the code for the most part that was fine, except it was more time consuming, and sometimes it mistranslated sentences, especially the more technical sentences. I wish I had taken Reinforced Concrete Design since my research had to deal with it. Sometimes my mentor explained some concrete design concepts that would totally confuse me but he would go back and explain it to me in detail. Apart from these challenges another obstacle I encountered was trying to find textbooks on my research topics. The school library has a great collection of engineering textbooks but over 90 percent of them were written in Spanish, which made it harder for me to count on them.
There were a few challenges that I encountered in research. One of which was that the Spanish Concrete Code was in Spanish, so it was hard to find certain things. I counted on google translate application to read the code for the most part that was fine, except it was more time consuming, and sometimes it mistranslated sentences, especially the more technical sentences. I wish I had taken Reinforced Concrete Design since my research had to deal with it. Sometimes my mentor explained some concrete design concepts that would totally confuse me but he would go back and explain it to me in detail. Apart from these challenges another obstacle I encountered was trying to find textbooks on my research topics. The school library has a great collection of engineering textbooks but over 90 percent of them were written in Spanish, which made it harder for me to count on them.