UPH Civil Engineering WEBINAR ?The SAS Bridge San Fransisco ? Oakland Bay Bridge?

Not only prioritizing the holistic education, Unviersitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) also upholds the innovative technology as its distinctive quality. One method to prove that is by the use of Web-based Seminar (WEBINAR) in classroom. WEBINAR is a live meeting that takes place over the web in which the participants should not necessarily meet face to face. All processes are run via internet, where there is no limit in distance.

UPH Civil Engineering applied this technology for the second time on 29 April 2015 with the topic ?The Self-Anchored Suspension Bridge San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge? which was delivered by Martin Chandrawinata PE, LEED AP, who is currently working in San Francisco, California, USA, especially as a Construction Support of Bay Bridge. According to Sunie Rahardja, a lecturer of UPH Civil Engineering, the topic was totally related with several subjects on Civil Engineering program so it was great for students to be able to listen and got explanations regarding to the project in the field, specifically the international projects  from  practitioner who involved directly into the project.

WEBINAR was conducted in one of Civil Engineer classes taught by Ir. Ika Bali M.Eng, Ph.D. This seminar was held approximately 1.5 hours, from 10.30-12.00 WIB, for presentation and Q&A session. WEBINAR was hosted by Wira Tjong, a colleague of Ir. Ika Bali who is also an expert on Civil and Structural Engineering with 30 years experiences throughout USA, Europe, Carribean, and Asia. Martin and Wira interacted via webex from San Franciso, California, USA to more than 60 students of UPH Civil Engineering.

Martin elaborated technically and in details about the construction of Bay Bridge that connects San Francisco and Oakland as the main road for approximately 250,000 vehicles per day. The Bay Bridge idea came up when the Loma Prieta Earthquake destructed the bridge for 15 seconds with 6.9 on Richter scale in October 1989. This earthquake collapsed the second deck of the bridge, which was a truss bridge. Thus, a design idea came up to construct a new earthquake-resistant bridge. This is the first Self-Anchored Suspension Bridge in the world. This bridge is also one of the largest bridges of its kind and was designed with the asymmetric load transfer model which added uniqueness and signatures to it. Not only designed for the motorbikes to pass, this bridge also provides a special track for pedestrians and bikers which connect San Francisco and Oakland. With excellent maintenance and rehabilitation, Bay Bridge is expected to remain upright for 150 years. ?This bridge is really unique. It implements structural, mechanical, and electrical aspects. In fact, this bridge is equipped with dehumidifier to keep the dry air in a bridge frame in order to minimalize the corrosion,? explained Wira Tjong.

Ir. Ika Bali commented that the lessons were totally new, ?This is a new technology that can increase knowledge of students and participants. This WEBINAR also could inspire us to be more creative and later on to be implemented in Indonesia.? Moreover, Adhiarta Emil (UPH Civil Engineering 2012) stated that he earned higher interest in construction especially bridges through this seminar. ?There were several technical terms that I have learned from class and were mentioned in this seminar so I can understand better in the real practice. Through this WEBINAR, I hope after graduated and get a job, I could understand more regarding the technical issues in construction, not solely depend on the theory.? (el)