RESSLab wins the First Award of the NIST-ATC Blind Analysis Contest

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Applied Technology Council (ATC) Phase II blind prediction contest was conducted based on the seismic response of two deep, wide-flange structural steel beam-columns, tested quasi-statically as part of a comprehensive research program funded by NIST at the Seismic Response Modification Device (SRMD) facility of the University of California, San Diego. The winning team in the comprehensive category of the Phase II contest(demonstrating the full nonlinear cyclic response of the test specimens, and intending to predict overall and local response parameters) includes Alexander Hartloper (Doctoral Assistant), Ahmed Elkady (Postdoctoral Research Scientist), and Dimitrios G. Lignos (Associate Professor) of Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) Switzerland. The entry utilized Abaqus software and earned the highest number of points of the 11 entries when judged against the test results. the same team also won the comphrensive in the first phase of the contest.