Welcome & Greetings!!!
I am Fawad, an early-career academic and researcher in the area of Structural Engineering. I am associated with University of British Columbia (UBC, Canada) and have set up this web portal as an online repository of my open educational resources. It contains my lectures, video playlists, class notes, blogposts, research publications, and many other resources. Please feel free to use them for educational and instructional purposes.
I also maintain a comprehensive set of professional training resources on my YouTube channel “Understanding Structures with Fawad Najam“. Please do visit this channel to explore detailed video playlists on topics of my educational interests.
For any feedbacks, please contact at fawad.najam@ubc.ca.
Happy Learning !!!
Fawad Ahmed Najam
Lecturer & Research Fellow, School of Engineering, University of British Columbia (UBC), Okanagan, Canada V1V 1V7.
A brief overview of inelastic modeling of structures using CSI PERFORM 3D. Click below to view a CSI seminar by Dr. Graham Powell and a hand-written tutorial (or hint file) for the seminar.
SOME OF MY RECENT POSTS
Our study interests include the areas in structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, performance-based seismic assessment and design of structures, numerical analysis, seismic hazard analysis, disaster resilience and vulnerability assessment, nonlinear modeling of structures, finite element programming, and structural engineering software development.
Why the Location of Center of Rigidity Changes for Each Story Even for Symmetric Structures?
Question: Why the Location of Center of Rigidity Changes for Each Story Even for Symmetric Structures? Answer: The center of rigidity is the center of resistance of a floor or diaphragm against lateral forces. It is the stiffness centroid located within a floor-diaphragm plan. If the lateral forces are applied [...]
The Definition of Design Basis Earthquake Level and the Retrofit Need for Structures Designed for Older Codes
Question: I noticed that with the updates of codes it seems that with the passage of time the seismic parameters (response spectral accelerations) are increasing. For example if we compare earlier versions of AASHTO (if we talk about bridges) and the 2013 version, the earthquake changed from 475 years to 1000 [...]
Why building codes require a base shear scaling for the RSA procedure?
Question: Why in different building codes (UBC 97 or ASCE 7) the results of Response Spectrum Analysis (RSA) should be scaled such that the design base shear should match with the (e.g. 80%, 90% or 100% of the) design base shear obtained from the Equivalent Static Analysis? Answer: The requirement of [...]
ETABS End Offsets, Panel Zone and Moment Releases
An informative hand-written notes explaining the concepts of End Offsets, Panel Zone and Moment Releases in ETABS.
Resonance Amplification of Dynamic Response of Structures
Prof. Pennung Warnitchai of Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand explains the phenomenon of resonance amplification of dynamic response of structures using a simplified mode (often referred to as the Boss Model). The resonance is a phenomenon resulting in large amplification of oscilations which occurs when the frequency of a [...]
Structural Analysis: Are We Relying Too Much on Computers?
An interesting two part series of articles authored by Prof. Dr. Graham Powell. Prof. Powell is Professor Emeritus of Structural Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. Over his career, Professor Powell has developed, or supervised the development of, several computer programs that have been used widely in research and [...]