Arturo Gándara in Mexico, Vishnu Balakrishnan in India, Haiyun Lu in the United Kingdom and Fairul Zahri bin Mohamad Abas in Malaysia all work to give a structure what it actually needs, within limits such as budget or ground conditions. This story is about how each of them finds that balance."
In their own words.
01
Arturo Gándara
Senior Structural Engineer · Bovis Proyect Management · Mexico
"Always evaluate the cost of the different solutions and review the construction details, so that they reflect the modelling."
Saving cost without giving up performance
We were able to perform the performance-based design review and retrofit of an existing building located in the most seismically demanding region of Mexico, and save the owners a significant amount of money. The ease of use and advanced capabilities of MIDAS Gen were essential to achieving that result.
Q. You have one request for the software. What is it?
Please keep expanding the graphical output. The more powerful and versatile a program becomes, the steeper its learning curve, and graphics are the easiest way to review and understand results. The responsiveness and technical knowledge of the MIDAS support engineers already help a great deal with that curve.
02
Vishnu Balakrishnan
Chief Technical Principal · SMEC Australia · India
"An efficient, constructable and technically correct solution, adequately documented."
What I work from is understanding the outcome the client desires in order to arrive at a solution, and the quality of that solution both technically and in the deliverables. I also care about legacy, through training, mentoring and knowledge sharing.
Choosing the method that fits the structure
One lesson was learning how to apply displacement based design in seismic design. On a project in the Philippines, the seismic effects were significant when adopting the traditional force based method, leading to a substantial increase in the cost of the foundations. Understanding and adopting the displacement based method using MIDAS allowed us to optimise the foundation design and to understand the realistic behaviour under seismic actions.
03
Haiyun Lu
Technical Principal, Bridges · Mott MacDonald · United Kingdom
"Apply basic structural principles to solve complex engineering challenges."
I am passionate about finding sound design solutions within constraints. As Technical Lead on High Speed 2 since 2018, I have undertaken the design and delivery of numerous railway and highway bridges, from scheme design through to detailed design and construction.
Sound solutions within constraints
I have used Midas Civil in the design of integral bridges to achieve convergence in foundation stiffness in line with geotechnical analysis software, and in solving technical challenges in prestressed segmental bridge design. In 2015, Midas Civil was successfully used to deliver the design of the Doha New Orbital Highway bridges.
04
Fairul Zahri bin Mohamad Abas
Senior Bridge Engineer · Bridge Unit, Public Works Department Malaysia · Malaysia
"Cutting edge technology to serve humanity."
Designing Jambatan Sultan Ahmad Shah
I was the bridge designer for Jambatan Sultan Ahmad Shah in Temerloh, Pahang, a 600 m crossing with a 200 m clear main span built by the balanced cantilever method. On a bridge like that, what I look for is value for cost and safety through optimization
Arturo Gándara weighs the cost of every option against the details that will be built. Vishnu Balakrishnan chooses the design method that fits the structure. Haiyun Lu applies basic principles to complex bridges. Fairul Zahri bin Mohamad Abas looks for value for cost and safety together. Where in your current design need right sizing?