With limited guidance in existing design standards, the culvert manufacturer was struggling to efficiently design headwalls for their metal culverts skewed relative to the road. SGH implemented a design procedure allowing them to quickly analyze...
With the Littleton Trials, students at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design investigated New England forestry practices, mass timber construction, and wood’s heat transfer behavior. They conducted studies on three timber-...
In the mid-1990s, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supported a joint effort of the Applied Technology Council (ATC), American Society of Civil Engineers, and Building Seismic Safety Council to develop seismic retrofit design...
Concrete formwork must be easy to produce, structurally stable, stiff enough to prevent deflections, and removable. Traditionally, formwork has been labor-intensive and challenging for complicated structures. By capitalizing on our experience...
SGH has worked with Berkel & Company Contractors, Inc. (Berkel) for many years providing structural engineering services to support their installation of piles at numerous projects.
With a theme of Creative America, the U.S. Pavilion at Expo ‘67 required a structure that would showcase the country’s innovation and design accomplishments. Conceived by R. Buckminster Fuller, the 250 ft dia. transparent...
The high speed train industry relies on relatively lightweight equipment to conserve energy and to minimize the effects on infrastructure and rolling stock design. Recent crashworthiness recommendations presented by the Federal Railroad...
Over ten years, SGH researched innovative uses of High Strength Low Alloy Vanadium (HSLA-V) steels in a variety of structural applications under the Vanadium Technology Program, an initiative sponsored by the U.S. ARL in conjunction with VPRA....
On the afternoon of 17 October 2003, a fire started on the twelfth floor of the thirty-seven story Cook County Administration Building. At that time, the doors from the stairway to the vestibules on most of the floors were locked against...
The Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) is a major component of the Ground-Based Mid-Course Missile Defense (GMD). The SBX is a mechanically steerable, phased-array radar antenna mounted on a self-propelled, ocean-going, semi-submersible platform. This...
By: Lawson J, Dominic Kelly, Koliou M, Filiatrault A.
Abstract: Evidence indicates that the dynamic behavior of Rigid Wall – Flexible Diaphragm (RWFD) structures is dominated by the diaphragm’s response instead of the walls’ response, and this is a significant departure from the...
By: Koliou, M., Filiatrault, A, Dominic Kelly, Lawson, J.
Abstract: This study focuses on the development of a two dimensional (2D) simplified numerical framework of rigid wall-flexible diaphragm (RWFD) structures that can be used to validate seismic design approaches. This type of low-rise industrial...
Abstract: ASCE 7-10 allows design of the Main Wind Force Resisting System (MWFRS) of buildings with a mean roof height of less than 60 ft using either the Directional Procedure of Chapter 27 or the Envelope Procedure of Chapter 28 (sometimes...
Simpson Gumpertz & Heger recently developed a cost-effective, non-load-bearing steel stud wall system for blast protection of building envelopes. Field tests at Tyndall Air Force Base (AFB) using equivalent vehicle bombs validated the...
By: Mehdi Zarghamee, Erbay, Omer O., Andrew Sarawit, McAllister, Therese P., Gross, John L., Sadek,Fahim, Kirkpatrick, Steven, MacNeill, Robert A.
Abstract: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted an extensive investigation of the collapse of World Trade Center towers (WTC 1 and WTC 2) and the WTC 7 building. This paper describes the component, subsystem, and...
By: Mehdi Zarghamee, Erbay, Omer O., Andrew Sarawit, McAllister, Therese P., Gross, John L., Sadek,Fahim, Kirkpatrick, Steven, MacNeill, Robert A., Bocchieri, Robert T.
Abstract: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted an extensive investigation of the collapse of World Trade Center towers (WTC 1 and WTC 2) and the WTC 7 building. This paper describes the reconstruction of impact...
Abstract: Real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) offers an economical and reliable methodology for testing integrated structural systems with rate dependent behaviors. Within a RTHS implementation, critical components of the structural system under...
Abstract: Under a Department of Defense-sponsored program to evaluate the use of very high strength, vanadium alloy steel in military applications, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc. (SGH) developed and tested an innovative and cost-effective,...
The Haystack radio telescope is being upgraded to support imaging radar applications at 96 GHz. The Cassegrain antenna includes a 37 m diameter primary reflector comprising 432 reflector panels and a 2.84 m diameter hexapod mounted subreflector....
By: Ronald Hamburger, Yin-Nan Huang, Andrew S. Whittaker, Nicolas Luco
The impact of alternate ground-motion scaling procedures on the distribution of displacement responses in simplified structural systems is investigated. Recommendations are provided for selecting and scaling ground motions for performance-based...