Thursday, December 3, 2009

Regular National Conferences

The following are annually held national conferences that are possible venues for presenting wind engineering related work:

  1. ASEP Conferences.  The ASEP International Convention or AIC is held once every two years, but there is one themed conference also organized by ASEP on the year without an AIC.  Hence there is at least one themed conference by ASEP annually.  Recent themed conferences by ASEP include: the 1st and 2nd Asia Conference on Earthquake Engineering (ACEE), the 1st and 2nd ASEP Concrete Engineering, Practice and Technology Conference (a.CONCEPT), and the 1st ever ASEP Safety and Reliability of Built Structures Conference (SRBS).  On occasion and in addition these annual conferences, ASEP would hold workshops on an invitation-only basis, as well as seminars that are generally open to the public.  Most ASEP conferences, workshops, and seminars are held in Manila or Quezon City.  Some seminars that are specifically targeting audiences outside of Metro Manila are held outside of Metro Manila.  At ASEP conferences, papers on structural wind engineering can be presented.
  2. The PICE National Convention.  Usually held every November, and usually outside of Metro Manila, although occasionally held in Manila.  At PICE conferences, papers on any wind or typhoon engineering topic can be presented.
  3. The PICE National Midyear Convention.  Usually held every June, and usually outside of Metro Manila.  At PICE conferences, papers on any wind or typhoon engineering topic can be presented.
  4. The National Meteorological-Hydrological Convention.  Organized by the Philippine Meteorological Society, and usually held in PAGASA Science Garden (Quezon City) premises in November or December.  At this convention, papers on any wind or typhoon engineering topic can be presented.

Philippine Wind Loading Code Provisions

The NSCP (National Structural Code of the Philippines), Volume 1 - Buildings, Towers, and Other Vertical Structures, Section 207 provide the wind load provisions for the structural design or evaluation of structures in the country.  The current edition is the 5th edition, also widely known as NSCP 2001, which superseded NSCP 1992.  Scheduled for release this year is NSCP 2010, the 6th edition.  The code is published by the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines (ASEP), and approved as a reference code of the National Building Code by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).  The NSCP 2001 wind load provisions are based on those in the ASCE 7-95 Standard.  The NSCP 2010 wind load provisions are based on those in the ASCE 7-05 Standard.

Philippine Outdoor Air Quality Standard

RA 8749 (Republic Act No. 8749) or the "Clean Air Act of 1999," and DENR-EMB DAO 2000-81 and DAO 2004-26 (Department Administrative Order No. 81 of 2000 and No. 26 of 2004 of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources - Environmental Management Bureau) or the "Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 8749" provide the laws and specifications for outdoor air quality standards in the Philippines.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Recent Wind Engineering Developments in the Philippines: 2007-2009

by Benito M. Pacheco, William T. Tanzo, and Ronwaldo Emmanuel R. Aquino, 2009, Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Regional Harmonization of Wind Loading and Wind Environmental Specifications in Asia-Pacific Economies (APEC-WW-2009), Tamkang University, Y-Lan County, Taiwan; co-organized by the Global Center of Excellence Program on New Frontiers of Wind Engineering Research and Education, Tokyo Polytechnic University.




Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Recent wind engineering activities in the Philippines

by Benito M. Pacheco, William T. Tanzo, and Ronwaldo E. R. Aquino, 2009, Proceedings of the 7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering (APCWE-VII), Taipei, Taiwan.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Performance-based design

Performance-based design (PBD) has been a "buzz" word in the earthquake engineering field in the last decade, and in the wind engineering field, some have proposed it to be adopted as well although others say that it is actually the practice already.  This online essay by R.E.R. Aquino discusses a view of what PBD is:

http://ronjie-engg.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-does-performance-based-design-mean.html

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Multi-Tiered Evaluation of Existing Structures

If you are familiar with FEMA publications related to seismic evaluation of existing buildings, you may have heard of the terms "Rapid Visual Assessment," "Tier 1 Screening Procedure," "Tier 2 Evaluation Procedure," and "Tier 3 Detailed Evaluation Procedure," and even "Seismic Rehabilitation."

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Misconceptions about Wind Speeds and Return Periods

Frequently, engineers have misconceptions about wind speeds and return periods, and unfortunately such misunderstandings have been regularly conveyed to non-engineers.