The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : As Sharpe as they come

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 05, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

As Sharpe as they come

Deepa Kurup

He talks of increasing the standards of engineering

He goes to work at 84 and enjoys it
He has helped build the largest wind tunnel

Roland Sharpe

BANGALORE: His simple manner almost demystifies the stupendous work he has done in structural engineering. This 84-year-old pioneer still goes to work twice a week and enjoys it.

Roland Sharpe is the president and founder of the Structural Engineers World Congress (SEWC). His passion for his profession is evident in the manner he talks about how he is constantly learning and the way the industry is evolving.

Today, he is a consultant with Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, where he helps design the ancillary equipment for a 3,000-meter-long tunnel to research on high particle physics. He has helped build the world’s largest supersonic wind tunnel for NASA.

High standards

While Prof. Sharpe confessed that he is not too familiar with the Indian building scenario, the fact that structural engineers do not need licences to practise is disastrous.

“In the U.S. we are pushing to increase the standards and make it tougher to obtain a licence, but to entrust a building in the hands of people without examining their qualifications is not right,” Prof. Sharpe said, speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the ongoing SEWC 2007.

Waste generation

Post-September 11, there has been a lot of research as well as change, but it is difficult to convince the old guard to be open to new ideas.

“Some of the research is based here in India where they are trying to use composites that mix shredded plastic bags with construction material. We generate so much waste that it is necessary to move in such directions,” Prof. Sharpe said.

He spoke of the need for innovation and stricter safety regulations for buildings worldwide.

“We have a new building code in the U.S. which is based on work done in the 1970s called the International Building Code,” he said. “I am not sure where they get the term ‘international’; but I certainly had no part in naming it,” he quipped.

In the face of rapid change, building methods need to evolve to deal with wind, explosives, hurricanes and tsunamis.

“The learning process doesn’t stop with a university degree. Horst Berger is working with fabric structures. He is 70 and may retire someday; others should start emulating him,” he said.

Conventions such as the SEWC expose engineers to a lot of alternatives, he said. SEWC was founded by him to provide such a platform. While expressing his concern over the over-dependence on computers, he said that while computers can give perfect answers, a lot depends on the nature of the data you feed in.

“For that you require judgement which unfortunately comes only with experience,” he said. “I’ve talked to professors about a course that teaches judgment,” he added with a smile.

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