University of North Texas (UNT) student Chris Willis took first place in an international competition on cold-formed steel (CFS) design.
The contest—which was based on a design’s efficiency and constructability—was sponsored by the school, along with American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), Cold-formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI), National Science Foundation (NSF), and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
“This is the only competition of its kind in the cold-formed steel industry,” said Maribeth Rizzuto, CFSEI managing director. “It requires participants to utilize their knowledge of the latest innovations in manufacturing, building information modeling (BIM), and logistics technologies, and to apply that knowledge in developing a cold-formed steel solution to a specific design challenge that they could face in the workplace.”
One of the competition’s organizers, UNT associate professor Cheng Yu, PhD, was particularly happy with the 42 entrants from eight universities in Asia and the Americas.
“This year’s participants were asked to design an optimal cross-section shape for a [2438-mm] 96-in. long cold-formed steel stud column which provides adequate compression strength and utilizes the least amount of material. We were pleased with the entries, which included more international participation than previous competitions.”
After Willis, second place went to Zongya Xu (China’s Tongji University), while Benjamin Dow (University of Waterloo, Canada) took third. These winners receive monetary awards, and will have their designs exhibited at various industry conferences in 2015. The top 10 also receives one-year student CFSEI memberships.
