CETA Lunch and Learn, Session #1:
Feb. 17, 12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m., Room UT 103
Title: Role of AI in Design Studio
Speaker: Daniel Horowitz
AI style transfer technology and text-to-image visualization technology can create new images and new possible futures. AI also vastly reduces the amount of labor required to test ideas and generate visualizations. If the AI is doing most of the work, are we still the authors of the work? How does this change the focus of work for architects? Does it push us to stake out a more critical point of view, to focus on the why more than the what? Is AI a collaborator or a servant? Does AI hold the possibility of delivering a kind of creative equity for students lacking an art background? If we don't do the labor is the work still ours? If AI can help us create more beautiful buildings, is this not a sustainable strategy since we are more inclined to preserve beauty and less inclined to knock it down?
Title: Assessment and Quantification of Concrete Surface Roughness Effects on the Performance of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP)-Confined Concrete Members
Speaker: Song Wang
The utilization of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates to reinforce concrete members has been widely applied in the construction industry over the past few decades. The bond strength between FRP and concrete surfaces plays a vital role in affecting the ultimate strengthening effectiveness. While concrete surface roughness significantly influences the interfacial bond strength between the two phases, existing guidelines from most FRP manufacturers typically suggest the minimum concrete surface profile (CSP) based on subjective assessments using the CSP chip set, which is provided by International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI). The optimal surface profile and more rigorous study correlating concrete surface roughness parameters with bond performance of the composite system have not been fully investigated. This study investigates the impact of varying CSP levels—CSP-3, CSP-5, and CSP-7—on the bond strength of short concrete beams strengthened with FRP laminates. Flexural bending tests and surface metrology analyses were performed to establish statistical relationships between surface roughness and structural performance.
Questions? Email cetamain@hartford.edu.