On December 26, 2024, from 19:00 to 20:40, Professor Wu Yufei from our college gave a public lecture on "Introduction to Civil Engineering" to the 2024 freshmen in the A431 auditorium.
The title of Professor Wu Yufei's public lecture report is "Structural Engineers and Structural Design", and the report is mainly divided into five parts. Firstly, through the question "What is an engineer?", according to the Latin interpretation, engineers should include the characteristics of "intelligence, creativity, production, and design", rather than just calculation and drawing; Through visual animation, the force transmission mechanism and failure mode of structural components and structural systems are explained, answering the question of "What is structure?" and emphasizing the study of relevant university courses necessary for structural engineering.
Subsequently, a comprehensive analysis was conducted on the general principles of structural design: the principle of the weakest link. Using this principle, the general method for ensuring structural safety was explained: setting a safety factor; At the same time, it is emphasized that the wisest and most reliable way to achieve structural safety is to make the structure ductile, and explain it from the aspects of failure mode transfer, stress optimization, stress redistribution, and danger warning; The system introduces the development process of the basic theory and design specifications of structural engineering from rough proposal to continuous improvement, emphasizing the need to explore and solve problems with the help of basic principles when the specifications are not applicable or have problems, and borrowing from the former chairman of Arup, G J. Sir Zunz's words ('Those without a solid foundation will pay a lifelong price for it in their careers') encourage students to firmly grasp basic concepts and theories.
Then, regarding several basic concepts that are easily confused in civil engineering materials, including standard values, characteristic values, design values, cylinder strength, and cube strength, he introduced the principles and methods for distinguishing and understanding them; Various effects of material behavior are introduced, and students are encouraged to explore the problem of unified models for predicting materials under different effects in the field of materials; The invention of prestressed concrete and the example of space elevators emphasize the importance of materials science in promoting significant developments in structural engineering.
Subsequently, Professor Wu Yufei emphasized that structural design theory still needs continuous improvement, and engineers will inevitably encounter new challenges frequently. Therefore, enhancing creativity is particularly important; Based on this, he introduced methods for enhancing creativity, including the "Mind Lab" and the "Four Dimensional Space of Creativity", and combined them with the MIT AI Lab, Swiss Watchmaker Stephen SMALL、 Explain examples such as Newton and the history of scientific development.
The open class of "Introduction to Civil Engineering" received widespread praise from the teachers and students present, and the report was successfully concluded with warm applause from the audience.
