2024 SEAKM Annual Meeting & Conference Speakers

Thomas Heausler, PE, SE - Thomas Heausler Associates

BIO:  Thomas F. Heausler, PE, SE has over 40 years experience in structural engineering. He serves as Chair of the NCSEA Seismic Code Advisory Committee and has been a voting member of ASCE 7 Seismic Committee since 2006. Mr. Heausler has frequently presented at national and regional conferences and has authored articles for Structure Magazine. He has performed as a grader for the NCEES National Structural Engineering 16 hour exam. Mr. Heausler has taught Structural Analysis and Earthquake Engineering at the University of Missouri Kansas City and he holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from Tulane University. Mr. Heausler is licensed in 27 States and serves as an independent structural engineer, engaged by engineering firms, for mentoring, senior review, and seismic code interpretations and guidance.

ABSTRACT:   

The NCSEA Seismic Code Advisory Committee has created a Design Guide. This presentation will present the Design Guide and define its features and benefits.

Chapter 1 describes the Workflow. It considers buildings as well nonstructural components and nonbuilding structures. 

The remaining chapters provide design examples for simple buildings with systems such as braced frames, moment frames and shear walls; and composed of various materials such as steel, concrete, masonry and wood. 

The primary purpose of these examples is to provide, in essence, a flowchart of tasks that the structural engineer can compare to when designing a larger building.

It is intended that when an engineer is at work creating calculations for a large complex building, they may simultaneously reference the Workflow of Chapter 1, and then follow along an example in a subsequent chapter of a simple building of similar system and material. Following this approach should result in consistent and error free calculations from project to project. 

Dr. Marc Maguire, University of Nebraska

BIO: Marc Maguire is an Associate Professor in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction where he is the director of the CASE Lab an ISO 17025 accredited testing laboratory specializing in new product acceptance criteria and test method development. Dr. Maguire has researched Concrete Insulated Panel design since 2007. He is on the PCI Insulated Wall Panel Committee, the PCI Design Standard Committee Task Force on Insulated Walls, and the TCA Task Force on Partially Composite Walls. Dr. Maguire's research and design expertise were instrumental to the development of the forthcoming PCI 150 Design Specification for Insulated Wall Panels. His other research interests include snow loads, probabilistic mechanics, concrete anchors, and structural inspections.

ABSTRACT: Concrete Insulated Panels have been a popular enclosure system for decades as part of warehouses, distribution centers, and datacenters, as well as more recently Class A architectural office structures. The popularity among architects and owners have generated this interest due to the superior thermal performance and economy of insulated concrete walls. This is despite the lack of formal design code provisions or detailed structural design guidance. This presentation will discuss the state of practice for Concrete Insulated Panels, ongoing research and its application to design. Attendees will learn the basics of Concrete Insulated Panel design and construction, design of wythe connectors for various out-of-plane generated forces and limitations of the use of Concrete Insulated Panels. 

W. Lee Shoemaker, P.E., Ph.D.,  Metal Building Manufacturers Association

BIO: W. Lee Shoemaker, P.E. has served as the Director of Research and Engineering for the Metal Building Manufacturers Association since 1994. Dr. Shoemaker's responsibilities with MBMA include directing the technical research and education programs as well as representing MBMA on several technical committees including ASCE 7 Committee on Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures, and the AISC Committee on Specifications for Structural Steel Buildings. He has participated on the ASCE 7 Wind Load Subcommittee since 1994. 

ABSTRACT: Metal building systems are utilized in many low-rise applications – from shopping centers to airport hangars, from hospitals to schools, from warehouses to factories, from office buildings to medical centers. When a metal building is used, design responsibilities are usually divided between the manufacturer and the registered design professional(s), commonly called the engineer of record (EOR). Therefore, a clear understanding of their respective roles, as well as coordination, and communication are crucial for success. This presentation will provide information about the metal building industry, review items related to construction inspection, discuss why the involvement of an EOR is a key component to a project’s success and what the shared responsibilities are between the metal building manufacturer and EOR.

SEAKM President, Bill Zhang, Ph.D., PE, SE, LEED AP,   

This 30-minute presentation will cover the recent initiatives of the Kansas and Missouri SEA, and will enlighten members as to the positive initiative to come in the future.

Aaron J Mann, Esq., Terracon

BIO: Aaron is a Senior Principal with Terracon Consultants and serves as their General Counsel overseeing risk management and litigation. He has been practicing law for two decades with a focus on business disputes. Aaron regularly manages outside counsel acting on behalf of the company and works internally to troubleshoot project issues and avoid disputes before they escalate. He is a frequent presenter at past events hosted by ACEC, ACI, ASCE, GBA, NSPE, and others. 

ABSTRACT: On March 15, 2018, six people lost their lives after the partially constructed pedestrian bridge at the Florida International University in Miami collapsed.  This case study will explore the evolution of this project, including the decisions that were made and the discussions that took place in the crucial days and hours before the collapse.  Rather than a purely technical discussion about the structural shortcomings of the bridge, this presentation will focus on the ethical issues encountered in the final days of the project. 

The presentation will also focus on the investigations and lawsuits that followed and the impact to the project team.  It is my hope that we can all learn from this tragedy.    

Benjamin Schafer, PhD, PE, Hackerman Professor, Civil and Systems Engineering, Johns Hopkins University

2024 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award for "Review of Local Buckling Width-to-Thickness Limits."

BIO: Benjamin W. Schafer is the director of the Ralph O'Connor Sustainable Energy Institute and Hackerman Professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He is also active in engineering consulting and is currently a consulting principal at Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger. He holds master's and doctoral degrees from Cornell University in structural engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Iowa. Schafer has led numerous research projects on the behavior and design of thin-walled steel structures.

ABSTRACT:  Structural engineers designing in steel must master yielding, buckling, and fracture limit states to create a reliable solution. This talk will focus on the role of local plate buckling in the global behavior of structural steel members. Local plate buckling is a fascinating phenomenon and one that every structural engineer should have some degree of comfort predicting and understanding. AISC Specifications provide guidance for how to avoid local buckling when desired, consider its effects when necessary, and control or leverage this limit state under extreme loading. In this talk, we'll delve into the roots of the AISC local buckling provisions, demystifying their origins and significance. As we look to the future, where advanced high strength structural steels are more common and every designer is pressed to maximize sustainability and minimize the thickness of the steel they employ, the importance of mastering local buckling is only growing. So, we will also examine some of the newest procedures, tools, and software that will give engineers of the future better predictions and more design flexibility. While carbon steel takes the spotlight, we won't forget to shed light on local buckling insights for stainless steel and AISC's new structural stainless steel specifications. We'll even venture into the uncharted territory of carbon and stainless cold-formed steel members, where local buckling reigns supreme in nearly all cases. The global response of structural steel may be better understood by mastering local buckling. This talk aims to provide its audience with insights and ideas so that they can design with efficiency and confidence. Together, we'll Think Global, Buckle Local, and explore this critical aspect of structural steel behavior. 

Robert Lee, Senior Project Manager, JE Dunn Construction

BIO: Robert Lee is a Senior Project Manager with JE Dunn Construction Company.  Robert Graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Construction Science and Management with a Minor in Leadership Studies.  Robert joined JE Dunn in 2015 with the Mission Critical Group to build Hyperscale and Colocation Data Centers across the US in four states before moving back to Kansas City.  Upon returning to Kansas City Robert spent time working on multiple schools in the Kansas City Area.

Wayne Hess, PE, Leigh + O'Kane

BIO: After spending almost 5 years in the United States Army, Wayne attended the University of Missouri – Kansas City where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 2005. Wayne is currently licensed as a Professional Engineer in Kansas and Missouri.

Wayne joined Leigh + O’Kane in 2005 as a new staff engineer. He has 19 years of design experience with vertical structures in all different types of materials including concrete, masonry, wood, and steel. Wayne has designed various types of buildings including industrial/commercial, multi-family residential mixed use, to park structures and zoo exhibits. 

ABSTRACT:    

Every project has its own challenges, some are small and relatively easy to overcome, while others seem virtually insurmountable. At the beginning of 2020, the question of how to support and contain 650,000 gallons of salt water inside a building and above the ground with 34 exhibits, 20 back of house holding tanks, and 32 separate complex life support systems, felt like one of those insurmountable challenges. This presentation will give a broad overview of the structural design behind the SOBELA Ocean Aquarium in Kansas City and dive into some of the structural engineering challenges that were presented along the way.