S&T students test the structural behavior of an 18-foot-long concrete beam.
A team of civil engineering students from Missouri University of Science and Technology finished sixth in the nation in a “big beam” competition.
The Missouri S&T team finished sixth overall in the nation in the 2015 Big Beam Contest, an annual collegiate competition sponsored by Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI). A team from the University of Notre Dame won the national event.
Teams in the competition design an 18-foot-long, pre-stressed and pre-cast concrete beam, which is then tested and evaluated for predicted structural behavior, including member strength, cracking load, section ductility and cost. Student teams fabricate the beams with the help of PCI producer members. The Missouri S&T team worked with Coreslab Structures Inc. of Marshall, Missouri.
Missouri S&T members of the Big Beam Team are Hayder Alghazali and Eli Hernandez of Rolla, Missouri; and Kaylea Smith of Blue Springs, Missouri. All three are graduate students in civil engineering at Missouri S&T. Hernandez served as the team leader this year.
Dr. John J. Myers, professor of civil engineering and associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Engineering and Computing at Missouri S&T, serves as advisor to the team.
“This year’s team continued the successful track record in this PCI competition that takes what we learn in a traditional classroom format and extends it to a real world fabrication application and then the laboratory for performance evaluation,” says Myers. “I’m very proud of this group of students. This type of experience is what makes Missouri S&T graduates highly sought after by employers. We greatly appreciate the involvement and sponsorship of Coreslab Structures (Missouri), who the team worked with on the beam production, as well as the assistance received here on campus.”
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