KOTA KINABALU: Four Malaysian engineering postgraduate students made the country proud when they bagged two best awards for their earthquake-proof building designs in Taipei, Taiwan.
Representing the Civil Engineering Faculty of Johor’s Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), the team won the Best Presentation Award and Best Design Idea of Exhibits Awards.
They were: Mohd Fadhli Abd Rashid (team leader), Qurratu Aini Siat @ Sirat, Nurul Amiera Rosman and Nur Amalina Anuar.
The team was supervised by Mohd Zamri Ramli and Mohd Nur Asmawisham Alel from the varsity’s Engineering Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research group.
The group beat other earthquake-resistant structures designed by postgraduate teams from other universities at the five-day Introducing and Demonstrating Engineering Research in Schools (IDEERS) competition, which began on Sept 19.
The competition was aimed at challenging students to design and build small-scale models of buildings that can withstand earthquakes according to the structural rules and specifications provided by the organiser.
Based on the (earthquake) occurrences in Taiwan, 23-year-old Mohd Fadhli said the team constructed a building model that was able to absorb shocks by installing the isolation and damping system.
“These two functions give an advantage to the structure, especially in providing comfort when an earthquake occurs, and in ensuring the building remains in the same position after the tremors.
“At the same time, we installed the ultra-sensory system to detect and measure structural movement and give a warning via sounds and lights when the movement exceeded the condition (desired seismic strength) set by the organiser,” he said.
Organised by Taipei’s National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, the team competed in the postgraduate IDEERS category. Two other categories were for secondary school and undergraduate students.
Mohd Fadhli explained the concept of using isolation and damping system was not limited to their structural model, but could be applied in actual situations like in Malaysia following the 2015 tragic earthquake in Sabah.
Mohd Fadhli, who is from Kampung Pengalat Besar in Papar, noted that the isolator concept had already been proposed for several projects in the state. He said it was still being reviewed.
“The damping concept, however, needs further study and research for application on buildings because this has been applied on transportation such as trains (magnetic levitation technology). It will be a new innovation.
He said winning the awards encouraged him to continue conducting research locally or internationally as it helped to improve knowledge, public relations, confidence level and leadership.
Mohd Fadhli is currently pursuing his fast-track postgraduate study in hydraulic and hydrology in UTM under the King Scholarship 2017.