The Contribution of Tom Paulay

to Structural Engineering

Richard Fenwick

Formerly Associate Professor

Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Auckland
 Contribution through teaching

• Enthusiasm and practical knowledge of structural design

• Interest in the welfare of students

• Saturday morning tutorials

• Injection of recent research findings and ideas

This helped build up an interest in seismic engineering and it

had a major influence on design practice in NZ
 Background to Research

The success of the structural research at Canterbury

was a result of-
• A team effort (Tom, Bob, Athol, Nigel Priestley and
others)

• A close interaction with New Zealand structural

engineers, MoW, Standards, conferences

• Good resources, technical assistance, slides

• Visitors to Department
 Shear in Reinforced Concrete Beams -
monotonic loading

Early research topic, 1962-1971, but not a major theme-

• Fenwick, R., “Mechanisms of shear resistance, dowel

action, aggregate interlock etc.”, 1967

• O’Leary, A., “Shear and axial tension in reinforced

concrete beams”, 1971
Subsequent research was related to structural
earthquake engineering

• Projects with post graduate students involving analytical

studies were generally co-supervised with Athol Carr

• Many experimental based projects were co-supervised

with Bob Park

• Some other projects were jointly supervised with Nigel

Priestley and David Elms
 Structural Walls
This was a major theme of research, starting in 1964.

(a) Coupled shear walls and coupling beams

• Paulay, T., “Tests on coupling beams”, 1968

• Binney, J, “Diagonal reinforcement in coupling beams”, 1973

• Santhakumar, A R., “Test of 1/4 scale 7 storey coupled walls”, 1974

• Taylor, R G, “Coupling of walls by slabs”, 1977

• Smith, D B M, 1985 and Papakyriacou, M D., 1986, Analytical studies

of coupled walls
 Structural walls (continued)
• Beekhuis, W J., “Shear walls”, 1971
• Synge, A J., “Squat shear walls”, 1979
• Mestyanek, J M., “Squat shear walls”, 1986
• Yanez, F W., “Walls with openings”, 1993
• Dozio, A., “Design and detailing of walls”, 2000. At Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology, supervised with H
Bachmann

Factors such as sliding shear, the use of diagonal

reinforcement and the influence of flanges on the wall
performance were examined.
 Wall Frame Structures

The interaction of wall frame structures and design methods

have been developed.

• Carter, B H P, “Analytical study of wall frame

interaction”, 1980

• Goodsir, W J, “Analytical and experimental study

including a study on wall stability”, 1982 & 1985

• Spurr, D D., “Analytical study together with a test of a 1/4

scale 7 storey wall frame”, 1984
 Design of Columns and Behaviour of Plastic
Hinge Zones
The performance of reversing plastic hinge zones subjected to
flexure and shear was examined in a number of projects.
• Row, D G., “Design of columns for strength (column
charts)”, 1973
• Bull, I N., “Shear in plastic hinges in beams”, 1977
• Zanza, T M., “Lapped splices in columns”, 1980
• Ang, B G., “Performance of rectangular columns subjected
to bi-axial loading”, 1984
• Wong, Y L., “Behaviour of circular columns subjected to
bi-axial loading”, 1990
 Beam Column Joints
This was a major area of research
• Renton, R N., “Exterior beam-column joints”, 1972
• Patton, , R N., “Anchor blocks for exterior joints”, 1972
• Smith, B J., “Exterior beam column joints”, 1972
• Birss, G R., “Elastic beam column joints”, 1977
• Bechingsale, C S., “Internal beam column joints”, 1978
• Scarpas, T., “External beam column joints”, 1980
• Cheung, P C., “Beam column joints with slab”, 1990
 Aggregate interlock and Construction Joints

• Loeber, P J., “Aggregate interlock tests”, 1969

• Phillips, M H., “Construction joints subjected to shear”

1972

• Hitchings, A J, “Construction joints subjected to shear and

axial load”, 1975
 Design of Frames
The projects below were analytical studies involving time
history analyses of moment resisting frame structures.

• Kelly, T E., “Analytical study of frame structures”, 1974

• Lindup, G H., “Moment demands on columns”, 1975

• Jury, R D., “Moment demands on columns”, 1977

• Tompkins, D M., “Analytical study of frame buildings”,

1980

• Mullaly, K W, “Gravity dominated frame buildings”, 1986

Research on Seismic Torsion in Buildings and
Compatibility

• Sommer, A., “Seismic torsion and ductility demands in

buildings”, 2000. At Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology, supervised with H Bachmann.

• Castillo, R., “Seismic torsion in buildings”, 2003

• Tom is currently working in this area. Several papers have

been published on these topics in the last few years
 Discussion and Conclusions
Tom has had a major influence on structural earthquake
engineering through-
• His enthusiastic teaching
• His contribution to research
• The international recognition that Tom has gained has
contributed to the standing of earthquake engineering in
New Zealand
• The contribution he has made to New Zealand Standards
• The text books that he has written
Due to the efforts of Tom and his co-workers we have been
given a sound basis for seismic design and a good
foundation solving future problems which arise as practice
changes
We have been given a sound basis for seismic design and a