UofT Seismic Design Team
I have been part of the University of Toronto Seismic Design Team (UTSD) as the Webmaster, the Construction Lead and the Design and Analysis Lead since my first-year in university. UTSD designs and constructs a 19-story seismic resilient balsa wood structure and competes in the Annual Seismic Design Competition hosted by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). More information can be found here.
To optimize the seismic performance of our tower design, the Design and Analysis team has undertaken multiple research projects to improve and innovate our design process. The followings are the projects I have been involved in.
Autobuilder GUI development
The team previously developed a Python script to automate the repetitive modelling and analysis process in SAP2000. To improve the user-friendliness of the program and the efficiency of the design process, I have worked with three other team members to develop a graphical user interface (GUI) which visualizes the tower design components, including the floor plans, bracing schemes and panels, in 2D section and 3D view.
During the development process, I learned the PyQt5 framework and the basics of OpenGL, created and organized the code structure using object-oriented programming, and formatted the model files. Since we are developing the GUI from the ground up, we have encountered various unexpected challenges, such as merge conflicts and bugs. From decomposing the issues to creating the solutions with the team, I have acquired strong problem-solving and collaboration skills.
This experience provides an excellent opportunity for me to strengthen my coding and design skills, which will help me to pursue a career in connecting computer technology and the civil engineering industry.
