SeismiC (Category 2)
AAKAAR IIT Bombay Competition
Aakaar IIT Bombay is the annual technical festival of the Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Bombay. Aakaar is acting as an excellent platform for students across the country, giving
them opportunities to showcase and enhance their skills at the highest level since its
inception in 2009.
Aakaar is India's largest civil engineering festival. Many exciting competitions are held in
Aakaar, such as the International Civil Engineering Symposium, Bridge-It, Conquer-It, Civil
Engineering national exhibition, ENVIZN, and Smart Pitch, letting students compete and
enhance their practical skills and knowledge. As a part of a knowledge-sharing endeavor,
many software workshops are conducted, viz, E-Tabs, Autodesk Civil 3D, Staad-Pro, BIM,
Revit, etc. National level Civil Engineering Quiz Competition is conducted every year
named LOGiQ. And many more fun events are a part of Aakaar, making learning fun. In its
15th edition, it is all set to scale new heights, with many recent events and competitions
providing an excellent platform for aspiring civil engineers to explore and learn about the
stream's vastness. It instigates students to innovate, create, and learn through exciting events
and competitions.
Introduction:
For all the structural enthusiastic students across India!!
Ever wondered about a way to illustrate complex structure dynamics with simple popsicle
sticks?
SeismiC brings you the golden opportunity to learn the most diverse concept of civil
engineering with minimal background knowledge and come up with an innovative solution
to the current issue of earthquakes that our time is currently experiencing.
The objective is to provide students with an opportunity to work on a hands-on project
designing and constructing a frame building to resist seismic loading and promote
earthquake engineering study among students.
Task:
Design and build a structure that can withstand maximum earthquake acceleration and shows
minimum inter-storey drift. The building should incorporate advanced earthquake-resistant
techniques like cross bracing, base isolation, a tuned mass damper, or any other innovative
technique that would be highly appreciated.
Dimensions:
Building in General
● The participants need to bring a three-storey building to be tested against earthquake
loading.
● The cross-sectional area of each floor should not exceed 300mm x 300mm.
● The total height of the whole building (including footing/wooden plank) must be
between 550 and 650mm with an allowance of +/-10mm.
● The building must essentially contain a ground floor + a first floor + a second floor.
● The plan view of each floor is given below along with the 3D view. (Participants must
include earthquake-resistant techniques in the provided model.)
● All levels must have a floor/slab made of popsicle sticks itself resting on the beams.
● Penalty Criteria for the above-mentioned rules: 5 points (refer to Marking scheme)
will be added for each dimension lying within 5 mm beyond the allowance limit.
Further extension in dimension values will lead to direct disqualification.
Plan View
Ground floor
2nd floor
1st floor
3D View
Structural Elements Specification
Column
● The column should be present only at the joint shown in the above dimension section.
● The maximum cross-sectional dimension of the column must not be greater than
12mm x 10mm.
● Make sure that not more than four Popsicle sticks should be overlapped
longitudinally (only for the thickness of the column member).
● Use a length of column according to the required height of the building/floor.
Beam
● Each floor surface should rest on beams. Beams would be further connected to
columns.
● The cross-sectional dimensions of a beam must be 12 mm x 8 mm (B x D) with an
allowance of +/-2mm on each side.
● Make sure that not more than three Popsicle sticks should be overlapped
longitudinally to make a beam member (only for the depth of the beam member).
● Use the length of the beam according to the required dimension of the building/floor.
Floor Specification
● All levels must have a floor made of popsicle sticks itself resting on the beams.
● The total floor dimension must be less than 300 mm x 300 mm (L x B).
Footings Specifications
● The structure must be attached to the footing after incorporating the
earthquake-resisting mechanism.
● The footing must be made with a wooden slab.
● The thickness of the footing must lie between 6mm to 8mm.
● The base area of the footing must be 400mm x 400mm with an allowance of +/- 5mm.
● The building can be connected to the footing by screws (bolt and nut).
● A maximum of 8 screws are allowed to attach the building structure. Screws should
be used nowhere else. (*Note: The footing will be directly fixed on the testing setup,
so any discrepancies in footing dimensions will directly lead to disqualification.)
Earthquake Resisting Mechanism
● Participants are free to use the cross-bracing technique, Base Isolation technique,
Tuned mass damper, or any other innovative earthquake load-resisting mechanism.
● It will be very crucial for participants to fix the mechanism and then go for
construction of the building.
● Please go through the testing criteria carefully before deciding on the mechanism.
Material Constraints:
● Popsicle sticks (maximum length 120 mm, width 12 mm, and thickness 2 mm)
and Fevicol MR White glue must be used to construct the structure. The
Popsicle sticks can be cut or trimmed to any shape or size.
● The adhesive must only be used to join Popsicle sticks together. Adhesives
can't be connected on the free surface of a part made of Popsicle sticks to
enhance strength.
● Wooden plank can only be used to make the footing of the structure. And 8
screws can be used to attach the superstructure with footing.
● Any other material can only be used to incorporate earthquake-resistant
techniques except for bracing (bracing should be made up of the popsicle
stick).
Testing Criteria
● The structure will be weighed first and all the dimensions will be noted down.
● A deadweight of 500 gm will be added to the top of the building before testing.
● The footing of the structure will be then fixed to a shake table and external dynamic
load will be imparted in form of ground motion in the direction of the more flexible
side of the structure. This will be decided by the organizing team.
● Two accelerometers will be connected to the base of the building (not footing) and the
top of the structure and the center of the beam.
● A simple harmonic function at a frequency of 20 Hz and a peak acceleration of 4G (G
is 9.81m/sec^2) will be given for a time duration of 60 sec as a ground motion to the
footing of the structure.
● With the help of an accelerometer, displacement data will be recorded, which will be
further used to calculate inter-storey drift (displacement of the top floor relative to the
bottom floor). Inter-storey drift is the difference between the two recorded
displacement data.
Penalty Criteria
● A penalty of 5 points will be added for each dimension lying 5 mm beyond the
allowance limit.
● Further extension in dimension values, i.e., beyond 5 mm of allowance values, will
lead to direct disqualification.
Judging Criteria
The judging will be based on the following criteria
● The maximum inter-storey drift (D) will be the main judging criteria.
● Dead weight of the structure (W kg)
Marking Scheme
● D is the maximum value of the inter-storey drift recorded.
● Where P is the total point of penalty incurred by the team and W is the deadweight of
the building.
Total Score: S= D*(1+W)*(1+P/100)
● Lower the value of the score, higher are your chances of winning!
● In case of a tied final score, the team with the lower value of D will receive the higher
rank. In the unlikely event, the teams are still tied, the team with lower value of W
will receive the higher rank.
Rules
● This competition is a bring-from-home competition. Testing of model will take place
at Aakaar's main event at IIT Bombay.
● All current UG/PG students are eligibleare eligible to participate in SeismiC
(Category 2).
● Certificates will be awarded to final shortlisted participants.
● Participate in teams of a maximum of 4 members, with at least one member should be
majoring in Civil Engineering. Individual participation is also allowed. Participants
from different colleges/organizations/schools can form a team.
● Once the structure is measured, teams will be not permitted to change their structure.
● In case any of these requirements are not met, point deductions (as mentioned) or
disqualification might be forced at the sole discretion of the organizers.
● No certificate will be provided to disqualified teams.
● Aakaar IIT Bombay reserves the right to disqualify any team if they do not follow the
above-mentioned instructions.
● Aakaar, IIT Bombay reserves the right to change any or all of the above rules as they
deem fit. Change in rules, if any, will be highlighted on the website and notified to the
registered participants.
Registration Deadline
28 January 2023
PRIZE WORTH: 40,000 INR
For any query, contact: competition@aakaariitbombay.org
ALL THE BEST!!! TEAM AAKAAR 2023