PEER is pleased to announce that the 2021 Blind Prediction Competition is now open!
This year's Blind Prediction Contest, "Quasi-Static Cyclic Test of a Reinforced Concrete Column," is developed by the structural engineering community including Maffei Structural Engineering, Simpson Strong-Tie, Tipping Structural Engineers, Tuchscher Engineering Group, and California State University Long Beach. This year's contest focuses on the response of a reinforced concrete columvn subjected to lateral deformation. This survey is based on an experimental test of a concrete column conducted in 2020, the results of which have not yet been published. The test column is representative of gravity columns common in concrete buildings designed prior to the 1990s.
Objective: Concrete buildings with vulnerable columns are known to be especially at risk in earthquakes. Assessing column performance is essential for evaluating the risk posed by concrete buildings. This includes columns that are part of moment frames and “gravity” columns, i.e., those not designated as part of the building’s seismic-force-resisting system. This survey aims to capture the state of practice in evaluating concrete columns, to indicate the range of approaches that engineers use, and the range of results that these approaches provide. In particular, the goal is to collect predictions and gain insight on approaches for assessing the strength, behavior mode, stiffness, and deformation capacity for this type of reinforced concrete columns. Hopefully the results of this survey will help lead to improvements in concrete building evaluation, with the goal of making our communities safer in earthquakes.
This contest is open to the global structural engineering community, and participant categories include Practicing Engineers, Researchers, and Students.
Important Contest Dates:
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Contest Opens: July 21, 2021
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Deadline for questions: August 19, 2021
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Deadline for submittal of results extended to: September 29, 2021
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Winners will be notified: late September 2021
More information, details, data, and submission requirements can be accessed on the 2021 Blind Prediction Competition page.