Spotlight

Man of Concrete

By Ros Davis

Earlier this year one of New Zealand's foremost engineers was acclaimed for his research into how seismic activity affects concrete structures, and the design and construction of earthquake-resistant building materials. Professor Bob Park, Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Canterbury, was presented with the FIP Medal at the Symposium of the Fédération Internationale de la Précontrainte (FIP) in Johannesburg.

The citation of his medal reads "in recognition of his personal dedication to seismic analysis and design, and also, more generally, that of the New Zealand School of Seismic Design".

"The presentation of the FIP Medal to me at the symposium was an occasion that I shall never forget" says Park. "About 400 symposium registrants from 36 different countries were present -- an outstanding occasion for me, and a great boost for New Zealand's earthquake engineering."

The FIP is an international organisation which was founded in 1952 to carry out research into the development of structural concrete. It is headquartered in London, UK, and has member groups in over 36 countries. Commissions set up by the FIP are very active in providing guides to good design and construction practice and state-of-the-art reports.

Park was born in Fiji and obtained his Bachelors and Masters degrees in civil engineering at Canterbury University, followed by his PhD at the University of Bristol, UK.

"My interest in concrete research was initiated when I was a postgraduate student at the University of Canterbury in the mid 1950s. It continued strongly when I returned to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in the mid 1960s. At that time there was not enough confidence in the behaviour of reinforced concrete to use it for constructing tall buildings in a country subject to earthquakes, such as New Zealand."

The main thrust of both his teaching and research has been in the fields of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures, particularly how reinforced concrete buildings and bridge structures respond to strong earthquakes. These days, largely due to the research work conducted by Park and his colleagues, Professors Tom Panlay and Nigel Priestley and graduate students, prestressed and reinforced concrete is now the main material used for major building projects in New Zealand.

During severe earth movement, structures are exposed to stresses in many directions, and need to be able to withstand them without breaking up.

Modern structures use both longitudinal and transverse reinforcement to enable them to deform without failure during major earthquakes. Park's research has been at the forefront in testing and improving the design of these structures, particularly of the necessity for transverse reinforcements, and he has also studied the behavior of pre-stressed concrete building frames and how precast concrete can be incorporated into seismic resistant structures.

For many years Park has been the academic leader of Canterbury's Seismic Research Group. The extensive research and development carried out by this group has led to the adoption of building codes both in New Zealand and in many overseas countries, and has attracted many overseas visitors, as well as a stream of ME and PhD students. Engineers working in the field have also made a wide contribution to the work.

The New Zealand School of Seismic Design has become internationally known, and their pioneering developments of design procedures and methods have contributed in a major way to modern seismic design codes. The school has the reputation of a world leader in seismic design developments and this is maintained by ongoing extensive research.

Park has published extensively over his career and has received several prestigious awards from New Zealand and overseas technical societies and institutions. He has also been honoured by institutions in China and South America where he has been a frequent lecturer. In 1978 he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand -- the first civil engineer to be so invited.

He has also become a Foreign Member of the Fellowship of Engineering of the United Kingdom (now the Royal Academy of Engineering), one of a total 31 foreign members at the time of his election. Fellowship to this prestigious Academy is by invitation only for "exceptional merit and distinction in the field of engineering". In recognition of his services to civil engineering, Park was awarded an OBE in 1995.

Park's research plans for the future are mainly to continue the development of procedures for assessing the earthquake risk of pre-mid-1970s reinforced concrete structures and determining appropriate methods for upgrading those structures.

"Concrete structures designed to pre-mid-1970's codes often lack appropriate reinforcement to survive severe earthquakes," he says. "The pioneering design codes in New Zealand which have given confidence to the use of reinforced concrete for tall buildings were published by Standards New Zealand in 1978 and later. They introduced 'capacity design' and 'ductile detailing' which enables well-designed reinforced concrete to survive severe earthquakes."