03/05: Just What the Hell Does Blake Do?

So back in my college days … oh how long ago that was … the common dialog when you meet someone goes along these lines:

Random Person: “What are you studying.”
Me: “I’m studying structural engineering.”
Random Person: “Oh. Sounds like you use a lot of math … but uhh … what does that mean?”
Me: “Oh, we design and analyze….” [Random Person has now walked away]

I’m well aware of the fact that many of my friends and family have no idea what I studied, why I did what I did, where I want to go, and what the hell I’m doing right now. So that said, I figure I am long overdue for an update on my work experience.

I currently work for a company called Tyrens. Here’s our head office where I work:

I could go into details into the history of the company, the number of employees and other factoids but that would require me doing some research because I know very little about the people sending me the checks. But I can tell you that they have many offices spread across Sweden, and are one of the larger consulting firms.

The company is in downtown Stockholm, which actually was a big part of why I chose to work here. Here’s a couple shots from the top floor. This is looking towards Gamla Stan (Old Town, center) and City Hall (on the left in the distance).


Some of the old roof tops in Stockholm.

Since I’ve been here I’ve worked on a large variety of projects. I think part of the reason the company went out on a limb to hire me was because of my experience with doing analyses of building subjected to earthquakes, in other words … my entire thesis. That said, it was a rather bizarre experience to come to a company where I had such a different skill set than everyone else. I know absolutely nothing about the Swedish building codes, but apparently that’s ok.

The following stuff goes into a few projects I’ve been working on since I started, but it picks up with perhaps some more social and interesting stuff afterwards so stay tuned.

Fortunately, when I began they put me to work on a few projects that required my “expertise”, and I, along with another junior engineer (Swedish) helped do a conceptual design of a highrise in Shanghai under the guidance of my boss Fritz (American). The project was short lived but fun. Unfortunately it was part of a competition and the architect we were working with got 2nd, so our building is not going to be built. That said, the client was impressed with our work so there’s hope of doing some work down there in the not too distant future.

The Chinese text above is wishing a happy Chinese New Year.

The building was designed to be 250 meters (or approximately 820 feet tall, in God’s units)
The following rendering is of the health club at the top levels. It’s a cool image, but for a building to be built in Shanghai, isn’t it rather odd that we apparently don’t let any non-white people into the health spa area?
Our role on the project was to help the architect and guide them on their path to make sure that their design was realistic. We did some basic computer analyses to see how the building would perform in an earthquake as well as typhoon class winds.
I know that I’ve long since passed the point where “Random Person” has walked away, but I figure I’ll throw boring stuff in there for the select few who might actually give a shit. At any rate, we suggested using large reinforced concrete walls around the elevator shaft to act as the primary wind and earthquake resisting system. It also transfers forces into the exterior columns through what are called outrigger trusses, see below:
The other project that has occupied a lot of my time is on a nuclear facility in the Swedish town of Oskarshamn. Sweden doesn’t have many earthquakes, so no buildings are designed with this in mind. However, these nuclear facilities have to be designed for the once in a million years event. That said, the Swedish nuclear authority commissioned Tyrens to analyze some existing buildings that contain a lot of nuclear waste on its way to its 100,000 year resting place.

The building we are looking at could potentially contain 5000 tons of uranium in a “temporary” basis. By temporary they mean that they keep the spent fuel rods in 15 meter deep water pools for 30 some years while they, quite literally, cool off.

The “interesting” thing about this is the incredibly complex nature of what you have to consider to accurately model how the building would behave in an earthquake. The 15 meter deep water basins are of particular importance, and are particularly challenging. We have been working to model the way the water would behave in the event of an earthquake. It has been extremely challenging to capture the impulsive water loads that hit the wall as well as the sloshing action of the water moving back and forth. Here’s a quick glance of our model, which most will find mind-numbingly boring:
The following is an example of how we’re modeling the basins. They are all interconnected, so the waste travels through this and eventually into another building on their way to their resting place … in a deep cavern dangerously close to Sweden’s drinking water.

Now I’m working on a few other projects. The latest is to look at a tunnel being designed to make sure it can withstand explosions.

So that’s right, this country is trusting a foreign expatriot to make sure their tunnels and nuclear power plants are safe … Sweden has put an awful lot of trust in my not-so-capable hands.

Anyways, away from the work work stuff and on to the work social stuff. Shortly after I began, the company put on a big Christmas party. I was excited for an authentic Swedish Christmas ... this is what I got instead:
This turned out to be the 1st of 2 cowboy parties I have thus far attended here in Stockholm. Courtney wrote about the 2nd one at our new friends, Elisabeth's and Tobias's, place.

The food was surprisingly good though (of course Austin would have made his stinky diaper face to it I'm sure):
Here are a few of my coworkers:

This is my boss Fritz along with a coworker whose name I should probably know. I asked Fritz how Curious George was doing, but he didn’t understand what I was getting at.
Eventually the party got started and everyone began doing the White Man Dance – Enginerd Remix Version!
I may not know much about Jebus, but I think He Himself couldn’t think of a more fitting tribute to his birth than a bunch of Swede’s running around with toy guns.