CBC Radio’s “Quirks & Quarks” program celebrated its 35th anniversary with a live panel discussion in November, asking engineers and scientists to discuss the greatest achievements since the show first went on the air in October 1975.
To celebrate the occasion, CBC Radio brought together 10 Canadian researchers representing 10 different fields and asked each of them to talk about the extraordinary changes that have occurred in each of their fields. Engineering’s Aimy Bazylak, Assistant Professor of Micro-scale Energy Systems in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, spoke in the first part of the discussion on the subject of renewable energy.
Follow the link to read the list of panelists and listen to the Quirks & Quarks broadcast of the event.
In late 1960, 26 years before the launch of Wheels, the Toronto Daily Star exhaustively tested the gas mileage of 31 new 1961 cars.
The scope and technical discipline of the project would have been impressive even in a dedicated automotive magazine. In the pages of a daily newspaper, it was astonishing.
The “Gasoline Economy Test” ran in eight consecutive issues, appearing on the front page of Section 2 or 3 alongside Pierre Berton’s daily column. With technical assistance from William A. Wallace, a Mechanical Engineering professor, staff writer Gerry Barker tested cars in seven classes ranging from “little-little” to “high-priced luxury.”
Every car underwent a 16-km simulation of city driving on the grounds of the CNE, and a 32-km highway test that headed from the CNE west on the Gardiner, north on Hwy 27 to Burnhamthorpe Rd., and back.
In case you’re wondering, the miserliest car was the Fiat 600 (44.0 mpg/6.4 L/100 km). The most egregious gas hog was an Oldsmobile 88 propelled by a 394 cubic inch V8 that guzzled go-juice at the rate of 13.5 mpg (20.9 L/100 km). …
Perhaps it’s time for Wheels to haul those vapour-proof gasoline cans out of the basement, dust off the scales accurate to 1/300th of a pound, and run a 50th-anniversary Toronto Star Gasoline Economy Test.
Follow the link to read the full article on the Toronto Star website.
In an effort to promote innovative and sustainable construction solutions, U of T Engineering, along with the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) and Holcim (Canada) Inc. recently partnered to perform the first public agency trial of a concrete pavement section using a new class of cement called Portland limestone cement (PLC).
PLC has strong environmental and sustainable construction benefits. The manufacturing of PLC generates significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions and up to 10 per cent fewer carbon dioxide emissions as up to 15 per cent of the clinker used to produce regular Portland cement is replaced by limestone. The concrete produced with PLC is as strong and durable as concrete made with regular Portland cement.
Based on proposals from Holcim Canada, the ministry carried out two trials on existing Central Region contracts utilizing PLC. The first trial used PLC in a cast-in-place concrete barrier wall section, located on the westbound QEW between Brant Street and Burloak Drive.
With the favourable outcome of this trial, a second trial was performed on September 2010 using PLC in slipformed concrete pavement on an exit lane to Hurontario Street of Highway 401 eastbound. Both trials represented the first field applications of the new cement in structural and pavement applications by a public agency in Canada.
The Department of Civil Engineering played an instrumental role in testing this concrete and will be monitoring the trial sections over the next three years to gain valuable insight into field performance.
According to Professor Doug Hooton, who also holds the Industrial Research Chair in Concrete Durability and Sustainability, “The concretes being used by Holcim Canada in this contract had already resulted in approximately a 24-per-cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions relative to plain Portland cement concrete by using GranCem, a slag-based product.
“In this trial section, PLC has been used in combination with GranCem and the carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by 33 per cent compared to plain Portland cement concrete without any anticipated impact on concrete properties or durability. The co-operation with MTO in allowing this important trial shows the ministry’s commitment to adoption of innovative changes to improve green house gas emissions associated with new infrastructure.”
“Although relatively new to Canada, PLC has been used in Europe for over 25 years,” said Paul Ostrander, president and CEO of Holcim Canada. “Holcim Canada’s cement plants in Mississauga, Ont., and Joliette, Que., currently manufacture PLC for trials in Ontario and Quebec. Moving forward, PLC will also qualify for LEED® credits.”
“This is a great example of an industry-academia collaboration that can have significant impacts on the sustainability of our cities,” said Professor Brenda McCabe, Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering. “Just consider the amount of concrete in our infrastructure.”
Engineering professors were awarded the lion’s share of U of T’s Canada Research Chairs, announced on November 24 in Toronto at a two-day conference to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Canada Research Chairs program.
Three Engineering profs were awarded new chairs, and another two had their chairs renewed. A total of nine new chairs were awarded to U of T, with 29 chairs renewed.
“The Harper government is continuing its longstanding commitment to invest in science and technology to create jobs, strengthen the economy and improve the quality of life of Canadians,” said Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, at the conference Thinking Ahead for a Strong Future.
Clement announced a total investment of $275.6 million to fund 310 new or renewed chairs at 53 universities. U of T has 249 chairs, the largest number at any university in the country.
“For the past 10 years, the Canada Research Chairs program has brought breakthroughs in clean energy, the control of infectious disease, business management and digital technologies,” said Clement. “This funding will help strengthen Canada’s capacity for leading-edge research while, at the same time, building economic opportunities for Canadians.”
Canada Research Chairs are divided into two tiers. Tier I chairs are world leaders in their fields of study, according to their peers. This type of chair is awarded for a seven-year period and may be renewed at the discretion of the university. Tier I chairs receive $1.4 million over seven years.
Tier II chairs have the potential to become world leaders in their fields. They are awarded $500,000 for five years and may be renewed once at the discretion of their university.
The new U of T Engineering Tier I chairs are Professor Zheng-Hong Lu, Materials Science & Engineering, CRC in Organic Optoelectronics; Professor Ted Sargent, Electrical & Computer Engineering, CRC in Nanotechnology; and Professor Peter Zandstra, Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering, CRC in Stem Cell Bioengineering.
In Tier II, the renewed chairs are Professor Hani Naguib, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering, CRC in Smart and Functional Materials; and Professor Craig Simmons (MIE), Dentistry, CRC in Mechanobiology.
“The awarding of these Canada Research Chairs to five of our faculty illustrates our exceptional strength in engineering research,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “We are grateful for this recognition and proud that our professors received such a significant proportion of the CRC Chairs, which will assist us in furthering Canada’s research and innovation agenda.”
For a complete list of U of T’s Canada Research Chairs, click here.
Professors J. Stewart Aitchison (ECE) and Harry Ruda (MSE) were inducted as Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada at a ceremony at the National Gallery of Canada on Saturday, November 27. The RSC is the senior national body of distinguished Canadian scholars, artists and scientists. It comprises nearly 2,000 Fellows, who are selected by their peers for outstanding contributions to the natural and social sciences, the arts and the humanities.
Currently serving as the Faculty’s Vice-Dean, Research, Stewart Aitchison is a world leader in the field of nonlinear optics, and considered the leading researcher in the area of spatial optical solitons. His research has resulted in 214 journal publications, which have been cited over 4,800 times, and more than 250 conference publications. In addition, he has seven patents which have led to the creation and growth of four new companies. From 2004-2007, he was Director of the Emerging Communications Technology Institute, where he worked towards the establishment of open access micro- and nano-fabrication facilities. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (London) and the Optical Society of America.
Harry Ruda is an international leader in the synthesis and understanding of the behaviour of semiconductor nanostructures, with seminal contributions dating back to the early 1980s. These contributions are represented in 215 articles in leading journals, 125 papers in international conference proceedings, contributions to nine books, 15 patents and more than 2,000 citations. Professor Ruda is the Founder and Director of the Centre for Advanced Nanotechnology, Canada’s first such centre and internationally renowned for its innovative and leading-edge work on semiconductor nanostructures. He also co-founded the National Centre of Excellence in Photonics, which supports the research of 90 of Canada’s top professors at 20 universities.
“Professors Aitchison and Ruda are acknowledged as groundbreaking leaders in their fields, not just in Canada but on a global level,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “They are most deserving of this honour, and we are delighted that the RSC has recognized their extraordinary achievements.”
Industry, academics and media alike came out to the Civil Engineering’s Structural Testing Facilities laboratory recently to witness a half-million pounds of force testing a yielding brace system designed to protect buildings from earthquakes.
This was the first full-scale dynamic test of the “Scorpion” yielding brace system (YBS), and it went off without a hitch in a matter of seconds. A full-scale one-storey frame, laid horizontally, received the impact of the seismic loading; trembling, and with slight moaning, the frame and YBS remained intact, while undergoing significant deformations that allowed the YBS to absorb the seismic energy.
“This is the culmination of five years of work, so it’s nice to see it all come together,” said Professor Constantin Christopoulos, who supervised the project along with Professor Jeffrey Packer, both of CivE’s steel-castings research group. “To hear the industry feedback and see the excitement makes it all worth while.”
The novel, high-performance cast-steel Scorpion YBS was designed to withstand earthquake and blast loading, and is shaped like a giant wrench, placed diagonally across the frame. It is intended for use in new buildings as well as in the retrofit of older ones.
Development work on the Scorpion formed part of Michael Gray’s doctoral research, and it is now in its final stage of validation with testing on a second casting expected to be completed this month.
The Scorpion is being commercialized by Cast ConneX — an Engineering start-up firm led by alumnus Carlos de Oliveira — which plans to start marketing it immediately. The YBS can be added and removed like a fuse in existing buildings, de Oliveira explained, and it has already piqued the interest of the Canadian government—among other potential clients — for use in the fortification of embassy buildings in earthquake-prone regions such as the Indian subcontinent. Following completion of testing, a line of the Scorpion YBS will be developed for various sizes of buildings and seismic hazards.
The full-scale dynamic test on November 19th was the third for the Scorpion YBS; the previous two also simulated major earthquakes.
“Traditional seismic resistant systems are usually designed to barely survive one major earthquake, but the YBS system has undergone the equivalent of three,” said Professor Christopoulos. That there was still no cracking of the YBS’s teeth demonstrated the resilience of this new system.
The success of the first full-scale real-time dynamic test was “really exciting,” Gray remarked afterward. “It makes it worthwhile to see that my research has some practical application.”
Follow the link to read the brief in Canadian Consulting Engineer.