ASCE honors structural standards expert with Shortridge Hardesty Award

Reston, Va. — The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) honored Kim J.R. Rasmussen, Ph.D., M.ASCE, with the 2016 Shortridge Hardesty Award for his contributions to the development of practical design provisions and advanced analysis guidelines in the field of structural stability.

Rasmussen has made many contributions in the field of structural stability, specifically in his work on the effects of interaction between local and distortional buckling modes on the global stability of members and frames. His work has been the basis for design provisions in the American Iron and Steel Institute S100-12 North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members.

Rasmussen’s efforts include working on design rules for the Australian standards on structural stability with significant parts of his work being incorporated in the column design rules of the Australian Steel Structures Standard AS4100:1988.

For over 10 years he has served on the Structural Stability Research Council Task Group 1 – Column Stability. In addition, he is the chair of the ASCE Standards Committee on Stainless Steel Cold-Formed Structural Members, ASCE/SEI 8-02. His work in this area has been incorporated in the European and Australian/New Zealand Standards such as AS/NZS 4673 Cold-Formed Stainless Steel Structures.

Rasmussen’s efforts in analysis-based design have resulted in his research being incorporated in AS4084 Steel Storage Racking and based on this work is currently drafting further revisions for AS/NZS 4600 Cold-Formed Steel Structures.

The Shortridge Hardesty Award is given to a member or members of the Society who have contributed substantially in applying fundamental results of research to the solution of practical engineering problems in the field of structural stability.