Wikipedia

Gilbert Hegemier

Gilbert Arthur Hegemier is an American structural engineer, aerospace engineer, applied physicist, inventor, and academic. Hegemier is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD)'s Jacobs School of Engineering and he is a member of UCSD’s Founding Faculty.[5] He is known for his contributions to earthquake engineering, particularly in the development of retrofitting techniques for bridges, roadways, and buildings to enhance public safety and structural performance. He is also recognized for his work on protective technologies for blast and ballistic threats. He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (M.EERI), and has been a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers since 1997.

Gilbert Arthur Hegemier
ASME Fellow
NationalityAmerican
Alma materCalifornia Institute of Technology (Ph.D., M.S.)
Known forRetrofitting techniques for earthquake safety, and the use of fiber-reinforced composites in construction
Awards
  • The Revelle Medal (2022)[1][2][3]
  • CERF Charles Pankow Award for Innovation (1996)
  • UCSD's Chancellor's Associates Shiley Achievement Award (1994)[4]
Scientific career
FieldsStructural engineering, earthquake engineering
InstitutionsUniversity of California, San Diego
ThesisStability of Thin Cylindrical Shells Subjected to a Class of Axially Symmetric Moving Loads (1964)
Doctoral advisorErnest Edwin Sechler
Other academic advisorsJames. K. Knowles
Years active1964-present
TitleDistinguished Professor Emeritus

Biography

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Hegemier holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Solid Mechanics and Structures from the California Institute of Technology. Early before his career in academia, he worked as a mechanical engineer for TRW Systems Space Technology Lab, the National Engineering Science Company, and the Naval Ordinance Laboratory. After the devastating 1971 San Fernando Valley and 1972 Nicaragua earthquakes, Hegemier shifted his focus from aerospace engineering to earthquake safety.[6] He played a pivotal role at UCSD, leading a team that developed and tested full-scale bridge column retrofit systems. These innovations were crucial during the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake, proving effective as they significantly reduced damage to retrofitted bridges. Hegemier's work extends to using lightweight Fiber-reinforced composites for infrastructure repair and blast mitigation to protect critical structures from terrorist attacks. He holds patents,[7][8][9] is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2022 Revelle Medal.[1][2] Hegemier has been a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers since 1997,[10] and a Member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (M.EERI). He was elected to the Golden Key International Honour Society in 1995.

Hegemier was tenured to Full Professor in 1975 at UCSD.[11] He was later awarded the title of Distinguished Professor in 2010.

Hegemier established the Charles Lee Powell Structural Systems Laboratories at UCSD[12] in 1986,[13] and subsequently served as its first Director for many years. This facility is capable of full-scale experimental testing of buildings up to five stories as well as large bridge segments and other structural systems. The lab aimed to serve as a hub for the Structural Engineering Program at UCSD, support international collaborations, and foster interactions between academia and industry. Hegemier and his colleagues subsequently complemented this resource with a field station based explosive loading laboratory and the world’s largest outdoor shake table which has conducted seismic tests on full-scale building segments as large as ten stories.[14]

In 1998 Hegemier initiated the Department of Structural Engineering (SE) at UCSD and served as it’s Chair from 2007-2012. SE is unique in the U.S. in that, in contrast to other civil engineering departments, the focus is on structures, and it includes aerospace and marine structures as well as civil.[15][16]

Hegemier is known for his research and work on protective technologies for civil structures, these include engineering solutions for blast and seismic protection. He formulated the transformational technology concerning the use of advanced Fiber-reinforced composites for blast and seismic retrofits,[17] the efficacy of which was demonstrated on full-scale buildings for blast events at the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) and for seismic events at the UCSD Powell Laboratories.

From 2003-2010, Hegemier led one of the most extensive blast mitigation programs in the U.S. This effort, which was funded by the TSWG arm of the Combatting Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO), concerned the development, through laboratory and field testing as well as high fidelity computational analysis, of protective technologies for the Country’s critical infrastructure. These include buildings, bridges, tunnels, pipelines, and other structural systems.

Hegemier has served as a Subject Matter Expert on blast damage[6] mitigation for government and private entities. Examples include Technical Support Working Group (TSWG), Department of Homeland Security/Transportation Security Administration, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL), Sandia National Laboratories, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Parsons Brinkerhoff (PB), Protective Technologies LLC., and Karagozian &Case (K&C). He also has served on forensic teams for both blast and seismic events.[18]

Hegemier’s research efforts have been supported by many government agencies. Examples include the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), Technical Support Working Group (TSWG), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), National Science Foundation (NSF), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFSOR), Office of Naval Research (ONR), Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL).[19]

To perform a technology transfer to industry, Hegemier created Composite Solutions, Inc. and served as its chairman for several years. This entity performed several high-profile projects involving the use of advanced Carbon Fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites for civil structural retrofits/repairs. An example is the retrofit of the Cheonggyecheon restoration project in South Korea, that used 14 miles (22.5 km) of CFRP strips to reinforce 5.5 km of a viaduct.[20]

In 2024, Hegemier was honored by the UCSD by creating an endowed Chair in his name.[21]

Bibliography

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Main article: Bibliography of Gilbert Hegemier

Awards and honors

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  • The Revelle Medal (2022).[1][2][3]
  • UCSD Chancellor’s Associates Shiley Achievement Award (1994)[4]
  • CERF (Civil Engineering Research Foundation) Charles Pankow Award for Innovation (1996) Innovation (1996)
  • ASCE Best Paper Award (ASCE Journal) (1997)
  • 1995-96 Teacher of the Year Award, UCSD School of Engineering
  • Best Application Paper Award (Journal of Composites for Construction) (1997)
  • In his honor, UCSD established an Endowed Chair in the name of “Gilbert A. Hegemier” in 2024

References

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  1. ^ a b c UC San Diego (2022-11-18). 2022 Revelle Medalist: Gilbert Hegemier. Retrieved 2024-06-25 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ a b c "UC San Diego Structural Engineering Gilbert (Gil) Hegemier Awarded Revelle Medal". jacobsschool.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  3. ^ a b "The Revelle Medal". chancellor.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
  4. ^ a b "UCSD's seismic design experts Gilbert Hegemier, M.J. Nigel Priestly and Frieder Seible are named to receive Chancellor's Associates awards" (PDF). February 3, 1994.
  5. ^ Johnson, Greg (1989-10-26). "UCSD Researchers Sift Through Nimitz Data : Earthquake: The team that rushed to the site of the Oakland collapse will use the information to help avert similar tragedies". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  6. ^ a b "Earthquake: Fears grow over structural safety of Californian freeways". New Scientist. 'The situation is both new and serious,' Gilbert Hegemier, director of structural systems laboratory at the University of California at San Diego, told New Scientist this week. 'We will not know how serious until the inspections of bridges and freeways are made and design tests are carried out in research laboratories.
  7. ^ US6237292B1, Hegemier, Gilbert A. & Seible, Frieder, "Reinforcement of cementitious walls to resist seismic forces", issued 2001-05-29 
  8. ^ JP2007247401A, Seible, Freider; セイブル、, フライダー & Hegemier, Gilbert A. et al., "弾性繊維補強複合構造部材", issued 2007-09-27 
  9. ^ US20150322686A1, HARPER, Jordan; Williams, Brian & WADE, Carl Allen et al., "Blast resistant structure", issued 2015-11-12 
  10. ^ https://www.asme.org/getmedia/fb403911-4485-4a50-8232-3b04ea4ac4c0/Fellows-All-Updated-March-2024.pdf
  11. ^ Stix, Gary (1993). "Concrete Solutions". Scientific American. 268 (4): 102–112. ISSN 0036-8733. JSTOR 24941446. Gilbert A. Hegemier, a U.C.S.D. professor of applied mechanics, said the approximately $50 million needed to build the bridge would also test concepts that could be exploited in the repair of existing structures and in the development of manufacturing techniques to make Lego-like construction a reality. "The hand-assembly methods for making composites for Stealth aircraft need to be automated," Hegemier says.
  12. ^ "Three-Story Structure Slammed in Magnitude 8 Earthquake on Shake Table". phys.org. "This is a landmark test that will enable a very fast and economically advantageous high technology construction method to be used in seismically active regions of the United States," said Gilbert A. Hegemier, director of UC San Diego's Powell Structural Research Laboratories, and professor and chair of the Jacobs School of Engineering's Department of Structural Engineering.
  13. ^ "Structural Systems Laboratory | Structural Engineering". structures.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  14. ^ "Faculty Profiles | Jacobs School of Engineering". jacobsschool.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  15. ^ "UC San Diego Structural Engineering Gilbert (Gil) Hegemier Awarded Revelle Medal". jacobsschool.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  16. ^ "Faculty | Structural Engineering". se.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  17. ^ https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA397336.pdf
  18. ^ Hegemier, Gilbert; Seible, Frieder. "Equipment Request for the UCSD Structural Systems Laboratory".
  19. ^ "NSF Award Search: Award # 8520685 - Equipment Request for the UCSD Structural Systems Laboratory". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  20. ^ "Gilbert A Hegemier, Composite Solutions Inc Profile and Biography". www.bloomberg.com.
  21. ^ "18 New Endowed Chairs Created at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering". today.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
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ResearchGate profile

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