BC — being a seismically active zone is in a real need for upgrades to it’s schools to withstand seismic activity.

A significant lack of interaction existed between several software programs much needed for the quick assessment of hundreds of structural systems in different locations.

Our client — UBC, required the development of a tool able to produce an enormous amount of data in a short period of time. This data was to be populated within a database with a user-friendly system.

Our Solution:

A novel seismic risk methodology was programmed that enabled the interaction of several computer programs in a single code environment.

An initial tool was developed by using WinBatch to coordinate several MS-DOS commands while resembling a PC user. The final tool was programmed in MATLAB — integrating all the other programs and creating a stand-alone tool able to produce more than 2 million (units?) of data in half a day.

Data was stored and shared by a third party to create a web-based application for structural engineers in BC.

This tool has been a corner-stone of success for the seismic retrofit of public schools in BC.