Collaborative Research: An Interactive Steel Connection Teaching Tool - A Virtual Structure

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This project, which is a collaboration of Northwestern, Norwich and Purdue Universities, is creating a web-based interactive version of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) sculpture to provide an effective learning opportunity and 24-7 access to students and educators in the United States and abroad. The AISC sculpture is a physical system that shows forty-eight types of connections found in standard construction practices. Because it is eight feet tall and weighs nearly 2500 pounds, students do not always have easy access to it. Moreover, today's students are more comfortable with web-based learning tools. The virtual sculpture shows close up view of each connection with descriptions of how it may be used, potential failure modes, sample calculations and field examples. In addition, to help students visualize the three-dimensional (3-D) nature of the stresses in each connection, 3-D finite element models are being created. The interactive tool is being designed to allow other educators and practicing engineers to contribute to the database of design calculations and field examples. Improving student understanding of steel connections is important because they play important roles in the integrity of structures; many structural failures are attributed to connection failures including the failures of the Hartford Civic Center in 1977, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City in 1980, and the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis in 2007.