Student Activities
Epoka University organized on Tuesday, 5 th of December, 2017, the fourth Clubs Fest, in which Future Engineers Club was represented by the president of the club and its new board. In this event, club members stated the objectives, the mission and the purposes of this student club for 2017-2018 academic year. Beside many social and academic activities, workshops etc, it was also represented the new structure of the FEC club, where the members explained the new board composed of groups, where each group will consist new participants. Future Engineers club grabbed the attention of many students not only from Civil Engineering Department, but also from other departments because of the new groups formed and new opportunities given to many students based on their abilities and skills they possess. New applicants had the opportunity to apply directly via email on their smartphones or online via computers which were available. This Clubs Fest was considered as the most successful one for FEC, based on the interest the students showed.
Future Engineers Club, initiated by the Department of Civil Engineering at Epoka University, organized a workshop for the Civil Engineering bachelor students, on modeling with SAP2000, an advanced software used in Civil Engineering applications.
The SAP2000 name has been synonyms with state-of- the-art analytical methods since its introduction 32 years ago. SAP2000 follows in the same tradition featuring a very sophisticated, intuitive and versatile user interface powered by an unmatched analysis engine and design tools for engineers.
This workshop aimed to provide our Civil Engineering students overall information regarding the modeling of reinforced concrete buildings. Considering the fact that SAP2000 is a sophisticated program, every stage of this training is illustrated with some engineering problems initially solved by hand calculations and in addition modeled and solved using the SAP2000-program. Therefore this workshop involves a detailed explanation on modeling structural elements by considering most of the possible facilities provided by SAP2000-software.
This training is organized with 2nd and 3rd year civil engineering students after having the basic concepts in engineering mechanics and mechanics of material courses. In addition, the internal forces, shear diagram, moment diagram, stress in frame elements, deformations, stress due to bending, moment of inertia and torsion are demonstrated using hand calculation and SAP2000-software. Moreover, material properties and section properties, including frame elements and shell elements, are considered in details. At the end, a 5-Story building is modeled considering DEAD and LIVE loads, aiming to find the period (T) of the 3D structure.
Finally, general conclusions and drawbacks were outlined. Active students in this workshop are awarded with a Certificate of Participation.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3pQ5f08RLN0ZWF6cGpIMHBHUkU?usp=sharing
On Thursday, May 25, 2017, Future Engineers Club in collaboration with Civil Engineering department organized an Open Forum entitled: Climate Change Programme. For this event, Prof. Dr. Eglantina Bruci was invited from the “Climate Change Programme, UNDP” as a guest speaker at Epoka University.
Ms. Eglantina Bruci was graduated with “Honour” in Physics from the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana. She has more than 30 years research work in the area of climate change consisting mainly in:
leading the multidisciplinary teams (national and international)on:
– climate related vulnerability assessment for different economic sectors in Albania
– assessment of adaptation opportunities
Prof. Dr. Bruci was involved in many project financed by UNDP, WB, UNESCO, NATO, etc. in the positions of the Manager, Technical Coordinator and/or expert, International consultant and reviewer for several in-depth reviews of the National Communications of Annex I countries, coordinated from the UNFCCC secretariat and involvement in reviewing process of different IPCC reports.
Now Ms. Eglantina holds the Doctor Degree on Special Physics and Scientific Title Professor.
In this Open Forum, the guest clarified most of the questions related to the climate changes. Prof. Dr. Eglantina started her presentation with a brief introduction in “What is climate change” then she explained the impacts, implications for engineering, mitigation and adaption etc…
Finally, general conclusions and drawbacks were outlined. Our students were welcomed to ask questions and express their ideas about the topic discussed.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3pQ5f08RLN0aFpmM2xwZmp2QTg
The second trip was organized by Future Engineers Club on May 19th – 20th . Students from Civil Engineering Department were encouraged to participate in this social as well as technical trip. The aim of this activity was to visit the beautiful Valbona, located in the northern part of Albania Country.
The trip consisted of many activities, such as:
Future Engineers Club, would like to thank all students who were present in this activity for their contribution and support. At the same time, FEC is strongly suggesting all students to be part of different activities.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3pQ5f08RLN0SWNhRjlRb1Y0U2M
The Leonardo Bridge Project is a global public arts project connecting diverse and distant communities through the construction of a very special bridge designed in 1502 by the universal genius Leonardo Da Vinci but never built.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s revolving bridge could be quickly packed up and transported for use by armies on the move to pass over bodies of water. The bridge would swing across a stream or moat and set down on the other side so that soldiers could pass with little trouble. The device had wheels and incorporated a rope-and-pulley system for both quick employment and easy transport. It was also equipped with a counterweight tank for balancing purposes.
Da Vinci described the bridge in his notes as being “light yet rugged” and it was one of several bridges he designed for the Duke in his lifetime. Another, similar bridge Leonardo Da Vinci built for armies was a fast-construction bridge that made it quicker and easier for soldiers to cross multiple rivers. Such temporary bridges helped armies to navigate unfamiliar terrain with less difficulty, and more easily escape from pursuing forces. They also provided armies with what Da Vinci believed was one of the most important aspects of warfare: mobility.
For 500 years the beauty and symbolism of this graceful bridge remained an obscure drawing in one of Leonardo’s notebooks, until it was brought into being in Norway in 2001 by the contemporary artist, Vebjørn Sand.
Our project objectives:
After the activity the group will move it in an appropriate place, in order to be exposed to the passerby and enjoy that unique and interesting creation.
da_vinci.png image widget
On 30 and 31 March 2017, the Future Engineers Club, supported by the Department of Civil Engineering at Epoka University, organized a organized a workshop that was dedicated to the construction of the “Needle Tower”.
“The Needle Tower” is a tensegrity model that was firstly created in 1968 by the famous architect Keneth Snelson, who is known for this kind of structures. Tensegrity is special type of design principle, first introduced in 1920, that contains sets of discontinuous compression elements that are balanced by tensile forces, thereby creating an internal stability that make the structure stand still.
Even though the beauty of the structure makes it look more suitable for an architectural project, our club decided to take on this project for the different engineering challenges that it offers in combining the right amount of compression and tensile forces. In the construction of the model we decided to use different aluminum cylinders as compression elements because of the lightweight of aluminum. On the other side we decided to use stainless plastic string as tensile members. In the end we planned that the project will be around 5 meters in height and will contain 7 stories.
We worked for two consecutive days and faced different adversities while trying to raise the structure but with tenacity and team work we were able to overcome every difficulty and finish the project as planned.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3pQ5f08RLN0Y3ZqQ1RyUnkzZFE
As one of the oldest clubs at Epoka University, Future Engineers Club is aiming to provide a forum for all future engineers and others whose common interest is in different engineering discipline. It is in our mission to help students to become valuable individuals to contribute for the development of Albania.
On 25 March 2017, Future Engineers Club organized a trip to beautiful city of Berat. The event was attended from 1st, 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students as well as from the professors of Civil Engineering department of Epoka University.
The excursion consisted of many activities including:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3pQ5f08RLN0Ml9DdEc0RndsNnM
Site Visit – Rresheni Hydropower
On April 27, 2016 Future Engineers Club, supported by the Department of Civil Engineering at Epoka University, organized a site visit at one of the biggest hydropower plants in Albania.
This activity consisted of a technical excursion in the Hydropower Plant of RReshen, which was being constructed by “Aydıner Construction Co., Inc.”.
This site is a part of the constructed infrastructure included in the “Fani i Madh and Fani i Vogel” hydroelectric power plant in the Puke, Mirdite and Lezhe districts for exploitation of hydro energy capabilities, which comprises four hydropower projects, through the development of the upper and lower basin of Fan i Madh River and Fan i Vogel River. This is a project planned to harness the hydro potential of the aforementioned rivers in north of Albania. The objective of this project activity is the generation of renewable energy with negligible GHG emissions and a minimum impact on environment, culture and society.
This hydropower plant contained all the engineering elements that such a project includes: dam, water reservoir, intake or control gates, the penstock, water turbines and generators. As mentioning above, these parts explain every technical, technological or engineering aspect in general, so the organized event would provide anyone a lot of knowledge about the way of constructing a hydropower plant, the way of its functionality, the methods used to maintain such an infrastructure and the challenges that an engineer should deal with while implementing the project.
After the activity, everyone was informed a lot about this branch of engineering and they were motivated to participate in the organization of such projects in the near future.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3pQ5f08RLN0Ym1TeEpiYlRJY2s&usp=sharing
On the open forum, organized on April 13, by Future Engineers Club with the support of the Department of Civil Engineering, Anri Lushnjariwas invited and discussed about “Project Management in Construction”, where the main focus was on the Hydropower Plant of Banja, one of the two plants in which Devolli Hydropower Project consists of. During pre-construction and construction phase of the hydropower plant, apart from the technical point of view, Project Management has played a crucial role in reaching to optimize cost, time and resources, all required to complete this project according to the plan.
Mr. Anri explained all the challenges that an engineer has to deal with when taking part in a hydropower plant project including: social impact, environmental effect and technical issues.
He also gave some some advice to the audience about the way of behaving or managing different situations during a specific work in this construction site.
After a long speech, many students asked questions about constructing the foundations of a dam, risks an engineer has to take in order to complete a successful objective in work, reasons for choosing an appropriate place or site for planting a hydropower, estimated cost of this project etc.
The meeting was very interactive and provided a lot of knowledge about a developed project such the Hydropower Plant of Banja.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3pQ5f08RLN0M3BQQ0FVNFh6MFU&usp=sharing
Site visit at SALILLARI Ltd.
On April 12, 2016 Future Engineers Club, supported by the Department of Civil Engineering at Epoka University, organized a site visit at one of the most specialized companies in Albania.
This activity consisted of a technical excursion related to an introduction of aggregates and their involvement to concrete production at Salillari Ltd. premises.
SALILLARI Ltd, was established as a construction company in 1994 Berat. Since then the company has extended its operation throughout the country from Shkodra to Saranda. The company was grown very fast during last years in reply to the demand of Albanian construction industry and now is one of the biggest companies in our country. The activity of company it is backed by qualified staff and a wide range of contemporary powerful machineries all owned. The attention of company it is focused also to human recourses management, staff qualification and safety.
The main construction activities of the companies are:
This organized program was mainly focused on the processes that were required for a final concrete production.
Firstly, it was explained the way of classifying the aggregates and the purpose of use for each type. Secondly, batching was described. This step is the process of measuring concrete mix ingredients by either mass or volume and introducing them into the mixer. The machinery should be capable of measuring the quantities within small tolerances in order to obtain concrete of uniform quality. Aggregates of three different sizes (sizes measured according to their respective diameters) were weighted and then added to the mixer by a transporter made of chains. After this ingredient, water and Portland cement were added and mixed for a certain period of time in the large deposits of mixing.
Cement was kept in big containers and was continuously filled by big vehicles. They were transporting it from the factories of cement production. By the time that mixing was completed, concrete was ready to be transferred to the construction site by the Concrete mixing transport trucks.
In addition, the participants were introduced with the controlling methods of all these processes by a specific program in the computer.
Finally, another visit in the laboratory of that company was organized. Different tests of concrete were held (i.e. compressing test of a cubic specimen of concrete) and the lab specialists took out some results, which were required to decide the exact class of that type of concrete for different purposes in construction.
This activity provided a lot of knowledge about aggregates and concrete production, which is a vital topic in civil engineering.
“Water is the most used material in the world. Then, concrete comes.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3pQ5f08RLN0ZV9YdlJiX19tWU0&usp=sharing
On 27 January 2016, Epoka University Future Engineers Club and Department of Civil Engineering organized an open forum with MSc. Edison Barhani, one of the most distinguished professors of our university.
Mr.Barhani graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Civil Engineering (Istanbul/Turkey) where he has also completed the Master Studies in the field of Transportation engineering.
The forum was about “ Future Opportunities in Civil Engineering”. Mr. Barhani shared some of his valuable experiences in this field, trying to solve student’s dilemmas regarding the path that they should follow in the future to be as successful as they wish. During the forum, he tried to explain what Albanian and European market is lacking in civil engineering skills, such as environmental engineers. The main advice MSc.Edison Barhani gave to our students, was to fill those void spaces in Civil Engineering Industry, and to work really hard in improving their skills and never give up on their goals because Civil Engineering can offer a bright future for everyone.
After the speech, students were free to ask questions and discuss their concerns.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3pQ5f08RLN0RDN1R3Z3RmZpeFU
