CIEN E3125: Structural Design

Course Overview

This hands-on course will develop your understanding of how infrastructure materials behave under different loading conditions. Through eight core experiments, you will test materials such as steel, concrete and rubber under different loading conditions including tension and compression, flexure, and buckling. You’ll learn how to make visual observations, perform corresponding data analysis, obtain key material parameters, and determine how and why material properties agree or differ from theory. Performed in the Carleton Laboratory, our industry-standard testing facility, these experiments will train you in both the theory and practice of materials testing.

The course will also cover general materials science concepts such as processing-microstructure-properties, production, microstructure and performance of civil engineering materials. This will strengthen your understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving the deformations and failures observed in your lab experiments.Through this direct testing and observation work, you will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to drive innovation in practical, real-world projects.

To undertake this course, you must first complete ENME E3113 Mechanics of Solids.

Course Instructor

Tom Panayotidi

Lecturer in the Discipline of Structural Engineering and Mechanics

Tom T. Panayotidi is a registered professional engineer in the states of New York and New Jersey, with over 30 years of practical experience in the design of structures and foundations for static and dynamic (machinery/seismic) conditions. As a Principal Engineer for Burns and Roe, Inc. and for Power Engineers, Inc., he has been involved in the design of several USACE (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) and DOE (U.S. Department of Energy) projects and numerous power generating stations across the United States, Central America and Asia. As a Principal Structural Engineer for General Electric-Hitachi (GEH), he has been actively involved in the structural design of the new generation nuclear power plant BWRX-300 SMR (Small Modular Reactor), using advanced computational techniques that incorporate the post-elastic behavior of building materials under cyclic-seismic loads and large temperature gradients. 

Panayotidi received his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering (1981), MS (1983) and Doctor of Engineering Science (1986) degrees in Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics from Columbia University. He is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. Before joining Columbia University in 2013, he has taught several mechanics based design courses as an adjunct professor at local universities, including Structural Dynamics, Design of Foundations, Advanced Steel Design, Advanced Concrete Design, Design of Prestressed Concrete, Theory of Plates and Shells, and others.