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Thomas Paulay (1923-2009)

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鲜花(60) 鸡蛋(0)
wangjianping 发表于 2009-8-23 23:26:43 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式
This message conveys the sad news that Professor Thomas Paulay, emeritus professor at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, passed away on June 28, succombing to illness. Many of you either knew Tom personally or knew of his work going back to the 1960s that has had a major effect on the development of earthquake engineering.
鲜花(60) 鸡蛋(0)
 楼主| wangjianping 发表于 2009-8-23 23:29:55 | 显示全部楼层
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 楼主| wangjianping 发表于 2009-8-23 23:37:34 | 显示全部楼层
OUTWARD ACHIEVEMENTS AND INNER VALUES
In the life of a person, especially of a well-known personality, there are as it were both
outward and inner things. The outward things are visible and public and therefore in the
forefront. They are evident about the person concerned, and to a certain extent everyone can
see them even from a distance. These are above all the great achievements. The inner things,
the inner values, on the other hand, are largely invisible, hidden from public view and are
therefore in the background and cannot be seen from a distance. These are above all important
human characteristics like the attitude towards others, the desire to do them good, personal
ethics, belief - or unbelief – in the transcendental.
The inner values are usually of great importance for the outward ones. Without certain inner
values many outward things would be missing, or at least not be as they are. We will see that
also with Tom Paulay the inner values are decisive and form a firm foundation for his great
achievements and success.
NUMEROUS HONOURS AND AWARDS
Amongst the prominent outward things, the visible things concerning Professor Paulay that
can be seen from afar, belong the many important honours and awards that came his way. For
his outstanding contributions to the development of earthquake engineering he has received
the highest-possible awards from leading institutions. These would fill a long list, so that I
will mention just a few, which are on an international level
鲜花(60) 鸡蛋(0)
 楼主| wangjianping 发表于 2009-8-23 23:38:05 | 显示全部楼层
Ÿ Honorary member of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering
(IAEE)
Ÿ Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.)
Ÿ Honorary Member of the American Concrete Institute
Ÿ Honorary Doctor of Technical Sciences of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
(ETH) Zurich, Switzerland
Ÿ Honorary Doctor of the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary
Ÿ Honorary Doctor of the National University of Cuyo, Argentina
Ÿ Honorary Doctor of the Technical University of Bucharest, Romania
CAPACITY DESIGN
In the world-wide engineering community, and especially in Europe, the name of Professor
Paulay is inseparable from the one concept and one design method that have changed
earthquake engineering decidedly for the better: the capacity design of ductile structures. In a
structure under seismic action the capacity design method establishes a clear hierarchy of
strength. The designer “tells” the structure exactly where plastic regions will be, and where
not, so that a deliberately chosen and suitable plastic mechanism will develop. And a clear
distinction is made with respect to the detailing of potential plastic regions and those which
are to remain elastic.
The philosophy of capacity design, born here in the unique professional and scientific
atmosphere of New Zealand and the University of Canterbury, was brought (one could even
say “smuggled”) in the early 80s by Professor Paulay into the first draft of the European
Seismic Design Code, later to become Eurocode 8. I must confess: it was not very easy for us
to understand this new and revolutionary design procedure. In Switzerland, in contrast to
Germany, Austria and France, thinking in terms of plastic mechanisms was already
established as an outcome of the theory of plasticity, but only for monotonically increasing
loading. I remember well the year 1982 when Professor Paulay taught capacity design for the
first time at the ETH, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Before my eyes
there was a thick impenetrable fog. At first this fog didn’t lift even when we enjoyed together
some fine pear juice – Williams in light-bulbs (the compound German word for light-bulb
includes the word for pear – “Birne”). But still it was a great pleasure to attend Tom’s
lectures, and later, as a result of his excellent pedagogic skills, the fog cleared and the
revolutionary power of the capacity design method shone like the midday sun.
DISPLACEMENT-FOCUSED DESIGN
At this time a revolution in the design of ductile reinforced concrete structures is again taking
place, which is largely being pioneered by Professor Paulay: the displacement-focused
seismic design. It is based on a reality-related redefinition of the stiffness of RC elements,
which is originally due to Professor Nigel Priestley in his famous paper “Myths and Fallacies
in Earthquake Engineering” presented at the Tom Paulay Symposium held in San Diego 10
years ago. Keywords in this context are: yield curvature and yield displacement are
geometrical properties and independent of strength. But, on the other hand: stiffness depends
on strength. Thus the new thesis and central message of Professor Paulay, to the surprise of
most researchers and engineers, is: forget the traditional elastic analysis because it is
irrelevant and misleading, and assign the strength freely to the different elements, such as
walls and frames.
鲜花(60) 鸡蛋(0)
 楼主| wangjianping 发表于 2009-8-23 23:38:26 | 显示全部楼层
TORSION OF BUILDINGS
An important area of application of the displacement-focused design method is the seismic
torsional response of asymmetric ductile buildings. Here too Professor Paulay has made very
creative contributions in recent years. He has shown that the approach, which has been
standard all over the world for the last 40 years and is anchored in the codes, is inconsistent
and may be incorrect. The most important property of a building plan is the centre of strength
and not the centre of stiffness. So a much better solution is, based on the wide freedom of
choice in assigning the strength to the different elements, to shift the centre of strength to the
centre of mass, thus avoiding the torsion problem. The simple but ingenious message is:
“Instead of solving a problem, avoid it!”.
Professor Paulay has addressed displacement-focused design and the torsion problem in about
30 papers published in the last few years. They are all characterised by high creativity and the
courage, when necessary, to depart from traditional ways of thinking. Thereby, he always
managed to keep an overall view, especially of the design-related aims. It is always a case of a
sound overall concept, and not, as with so many researchers, of a detailed consideration of
often rather unimportant partial aspects. This does not mean, however, that important and
perhaps decisive details are not given careful consideration.
INNER VALUES
Now let’s come to the inner values. Dear Tom, I have asked myself the question: What are
your inner values, the roots of your outstanding achievements, of your many creative ideas
and of your important works, of which I could only mention a few?
Of course, I’m not familiar with all these values; many are and will remain a secret, probably
for you yourself too. But I will venture to name some of these inner values, or perhaps aspects
of them, of which I assume that they form the basis of your great success.
Firstly, your human format: You exhibit profound human qualities. You are a person who
always radiates warmth and humour towards other people. I and my many doctoral students
have experienced this time and time again in the famous “Paulay weeks” at the ETH. Each
student had to present his current thesis work, and each time you gave them encouragement
and praise. Your criticism was always moderate, constructive and never damaging. The
“Paulay weeks” always produced many valuable discussions, suggestions and opinions, and
these weeks are among my happiest memories.
A second so to speak “inner” value, indeed a very important reason for your outstanding
achievements, is your dear wife Herta. Without her care for your wellbeing, her tremendous
and constant support, and without her care and excellent cooking for the many and frequent
guests, you would never have been able to attempt or accomplish so much. I know that you
are very thankful to Herta for all this, and likewise all of us here. So I would like to convey to
Mrs. Paulay the deep gratitude of the earthquake engineering community.
THE OPPORTUNITY OF NEW ZEALAND
A very important aspect is the country, New Zealand, and the University of Canterbury here
in Christchurch. You had to flee from persecution by the communists in your homeland
Hungary more than 50 years ago. And New Zealand generously accepted you and provided
you with great opportunities - New Zealand, a small appealing country with a wonderful
culture of willingness to help and of friendliness. Added to this was the harmonious teamwork
and spirit and the excellent experimental facilities and technical staff of the University’s
鲜花(60) 鸡蛋(0)
 楼主| wangjianping 发表于 2009-8-23 23:38:51 | 显示全部楼层
Department of Civil Engineering. No wonder that the NZ code for the seismic design of RC
structures is the most progressive in the whole world!
EUROPEAN ROOTS
Another “inner” value, that gave you a good foundation, is your deep European roots. You
greatly value good and stable relationships between different peoples and communities, and
the necessary language skills and cultural interests needed for this were always one of your
great assets. Your marriage to Herta also involved a contract between persons with the
respective languages and cultures of the Hungarians and Austrians. And so even up to the
present day you have followed with deep interest the current political, cultural and scientific
events in Europe, and you have always considered European engineering developments
within your creative work.
THE PRESENCE OF GOD
Last but not least I want to focus attention on one further inner value, which I know, Tom, is
important to you: the Presence of God or in other words your relationship to the Creator. This
relationship forms the basis of your faith, your trust and positive attitude, and also of many
fruitful and interesting relevant discussions between you and many of your fellow-men. And
you are aware that a rewarding and fulfilled life is enhanced by a consciousness of the
presence of God. So we conclude that without a personal relationship to this benevolent
transcendental Being you, Tom, would not be the person that you are.
鲜花(60) 鸡蛋(0)
 楼主| wangjianping 发表于 2009-8-23 23:39:58 | 显示全部楼层
The Contribution of Tom Paulay
to Structural Engineering

Summary of Contributions for Tom Paulay.pdf

1006.37 KB, 下载次数: 7, 下载积分: 金币 -2 金币

鲜花(280) 鸡蛋(4)
ljmtidilgw 发表于 2009-8-23 23:46:00 | 显示全部楼层
I was told earthquake occurred very frequently in NZ, so most buildings are timber structure and you can hardly see any tall buildings.

It is reasonable to have this great man in NZ!
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hd883 发表于 2012-11-22 08:19:59 | 显示全部楼层
Great researcher.
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吉米 发表于 2015-12-5 09:23:16 | 显示全部楼层
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