Lichtenstein Distinguished Lecture - Dr. R. Shankar Nair

Unusual Solutions in Bridge Engineering

The speaker will discuss some unusual and innovative solutions from his bridge engineering practice. These include an unbalanced bascule bridge, where elimination of the counterweight and associated pit more than compensated for the additional lifting effort required (a design that has been awarded a US patent); a skewed hanging pedestrian bridge; an unusual minimum-area design for a Single Point Urban Diamond Interchange; innovations in the design of the world’s longest tied-arch bridge; and the top-down construction of a subway station under an existing multi-story building. Also included will be an exploration of the evolution of arch bridge bracing systems and the application to bridge bracing of the new Direct Analysis Method of design for stability.

Speaker: Dr. R. Shankar Nair, Principal and Senior Vice President, Teng & Associates, Inc., Chicago

Dr. Nair received his Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1969. In his more than 40 years of engineering practice, Dr. Nair developed the structural designs of many major bridges and buildings including the longest tied arch in the world and a 90-story, 1047-foot tall building now partly constructed in Chicago. His projects have won numerous awards, including four AISC/NSBA Prize Bridge awards and six Structural Engineers Association of Illinois Most Innovative Structure awards. He has won a Lifetime Achievement Award from AISC. He is a former chairman of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat and is currently the chairman of the AISC Committee on Specifications. Dr. Nair was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2005.

Host: Hojjat Adeli (phone: 614-292-7929)