The DTU team
surpassed 100 other Asia Pacific teams to make it into the top three finalists
at the “Introducing and Demonstrating Earthquake Engineering Research in
Schools (IDEERS)” contest. The DTU team was the only Vietnamese participant.
The contest was organized by the Taiwan National Center for Research on
Earthquake Engineering, the British Council and the University of Bristol of
the UK, from September 14th and 15th in Taiwan.
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The DTU team and the 2013 IDEERS Organizers
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Over the past 13 years, the IDEERS contest
has been supported by many countries, particularly those prone to earthquakes,
tsunamis and flooding. These include Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, India,
Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan. More than 100 teams
took part in the 2013 IDEERS competition. It was the second year for DTU. DTU
first took part in the competition in 2012, when they finished seventh out of
the 102 teams competing and received a consolation prize.
Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang, a lecturer and the
leader of DTU team, said: “In 2012, we
finished seventh, designing a seven-story earthquake-resistant model house
which was expected to withstand an earthquake of 6 on the Richter scale. With
the experience we gained last year, we designed two model houses to resist an
earthquake of 8 on the Richter scale. One of our models was awarded third prize
and the other was ranked sixth”.
Ha Tuan Anh said: “The organizers gave each team
wooden bars, sticks, glue and rubber bands to design their Richter scale 8 houses
model in 6 hours. Constructed with seven stories, the building consisted of
four main pillars, four subsidiary posts, a flexible foundation, and floors
linked together via peripheral pillars. It took us 3.5 hours to finish the
design, and the model weighed 504 grams”.
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DTU team and Singapore Polytechnic students pose for a photograph at the 2013 IDEERS
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Conducting researching into earthquake
resistant housing construction is very new in Vietnam. Faced with a changing
climate however, Duy Tan University has a long-term ambition to teach the
theory and practice of anti-earthquake design so that their graduates will be
highly-qualified pioneers in this vital, new field of study.
Associate Professor Nguyen Ngoc Minh, DTU
Vice provost welcomed the team back home and said: “Recently, DTU has won many national and international prizes,
demonstrating the improved standard of education at DTU. We have taught
students theory and practice at the same time to broaden their experience. Now
they can apply that knowledge in their future careers. A new academic year has
just begun. Their achievement will motivate everyone at DTU to gain even more
successes through their teaching and learning.”
By winning third prize, the DTU
team overcame rivals from well-known international universities, such as the
National University of Singapore, the Republic of Korea’s Pusan National
University and China’s Shantou University.