Come join the ASCE Reston Branch for our IN PERSON ONLY April 2025 Meeting on Tuesday, April 22th starting at 11:45 AM
ASCE membership is not required, but an ASCE account (free) is required for registration.
Our speaker will be Michael J. Drerup (President of Drerup Building Performance Engineering, PLLC) and he will deliver his presentation on Loading Testing: By Design or Default.
Presentation:
Codes and standards are built on an abundance of recent and historical testing and analysis of construction materials, components, and full structures. Review of test data is a common element of forensic investigations, and from time to time, development and execution of a project-specific test program is in order. This presentation reviews Ralph Peck’s extraordinary retrospective analysis of the 1913 Transcona grain silo failure, and places this work in the context of an ACI 318 full scale load test of a newly completed precast concrete parking structure nearly one hundred years later. Additional case studies will also be reviewed for further context, and lessons and guidelines for focused development, execution, and analysis of test programs are presented.
At the conclusion of this seminar, participants will be able to:
- Describe four rationale for testing in forensic engineering.
- Provide examples of intentional load tests of structures, components, and materials in the field and in the lab.
- Summarize lessons learned from case studies of structures unintentionally loaded to failure.
- Discuss the role of structural analysis in evaluating the need for load testing and defining test parameters.
About the Speaker:
Over the past 30 years, Mr. Michael J. Drerup has investigated performance concerns at hundreds of buildings and structures. His work has ranged from single family homes to large building collapses. He has evaluated damage attributable to earthquakes, blast, impact, fire, water intrusion, corrosion, construction defects, and other factors. Mr. Drerup has previously worked for two prominent forensic engineering firms and an international structural design firm. In 2014, he established Drerup Building Performance Engineering, PLLC with his partner Alicia Díaz de León, PE, SE, AIA, and continues to collaborate with other consultants and laboratories nationwide to investigate a broad range of issues pertaining to structure, enclosure, and construction materials. Mr. Drerup recently completed two terms as a voting member of ASCE’s Board Committee on Technical Advancement. He is past Chair and a 24-year member of ASCE’s Forensic Engineering Division, and currently chairs the Division’s Education Committee.