Structural Earthquake Stability 3.0 Competition

From left: Prof Yasuo, Dr Lim, Organising Chairperson Jasmine Wong, Dr Lee, Prof Goi, Prof Chuah, Prof Hee, Akira, Ng and Yip officiating the event

The Structural Earthquake Stability (SES) 3.0 Competition was held at Sungai Long Campus on 18 February 2017. It was an inter-university competition organised by the UTAR Student Chapters of The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), together with Lee Kong Chain Faculty of Engineering and Science’s (LKC FES) Department of Civil Engineering. It was sponsored by Sunway Construction Group Berhad.

SES 3.0 aimed to propagate the skills of earthquake engineering through the practical experience of building small-scale structural models. By challenging the undergraduate students to design a cost-effective structure to resist seismic loading, it was hoped that the potential of their engineering knowledge, management skills, creativity and innovation could be unleashed.

Present at the opening ceremony were UTAR President Ir Prof Academician Dato’ Dr Chuah Hean Teik, Sunway Construction Berhad Special Project Director-cum-SES 3.0 Competition Judge Akira Yabe, LKC FES Dean Prof Ir Dr Goi Bok Min, LKC FES Department of Civil Engineering Assoc Prof Ir Dr Lim Siong Kang, SES 3.0 Advisor Dr Lee Yee Ling, Co-Advisor Yip Chun Chieh, and SES 3.0 Competition Judges Prof Yasuo Tanaka, Ir Adjunct Prof MC Hee, and Ir Ng Joo Yee.

During his welcoming remarks, Prof Chuah said, “Teaching engineering students is not an easy task. As educators, we do not just limit them to the knowledge from books, but also lead them to explore the real world. We do not make decisions based on manmade laws, but make decisions logically and rationally based on nature’s law. Engineering is practise, and we need to practise engineering. In Malaysia, we are gifted with a fortunate motherland with no serious natural disasters.”

Judge Akira Yabe delivered his speech by sharing his knowledge about earthquakes in Kobe, Japan and project management skills.

Prof Hee during the first assessment, checking for violations in the model

The 140 participants who formed 28 teams hailed from 16 universities. Besides UTAR, they were Heriot-Watt University, INTI International University, Linton University College, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah (PSAS), Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah (PSIS), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), University of Malaya (UM), Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), UCSI University, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

The bases of the models are screwed onto the earthquake simulator

Anything, the Champion-winning team from UTAR brought home prizes worth RM1,300. Meanwhile, team Will Win from UCSI University and team UiTM1 from UiTM won First Runner-up and Second Runner-up with prizes worth RM1,000 and RM800 respectively. Consolation prizes were awarded to team UiTM2from UiTM and team MC 3 T from USM. Team MC 3 T also won the title of Most Efficient Team, while the Best Architectural Design was won by team CESC UPM 1 from UPM.

Team Anything constructing their model

Team Anything accepting their prize

All the teams and judges