(Updated January 1, 2025)
The SDII research team led by Matt Eatherton at Virginia Tech (VT), Sam Easterling at Iowa State University (ISU), Jerry Hajjar at Northeastern University (NEU), and Ben Schafer at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) formally initiated the second Phase of the SDII effort in January 2022. Phase II of SDII is focused on developing innovations in steel building systems with an emphasis on modular floor systems with enhanced performance in terms of speed, sustainability, and structural characteristics.
Phase II kicked off in 2022 with a handful of new projects, new and continuing sponsors, and new students and researchers.
In cooperation with the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the Pankow foundation the team is working to develop a non-proprietary modular steel floor system for commercial/long span building construction with groundbreaking attributes in speed. This effort is led by Jerry Hajjar at NEU with contributions from the team including in-depth work on floor vibrations at ISU and is none as FastFloor C – a summary of work to date is provided in this post.
In cooperation with AISC and the Steel Deck Institute (SDI) the team is working to develop a non-proprietary steel floor system for residential/short span building construction with groundbreaking attributes in speed. This effort is led by Ben Schafer at JHU ands is known as FastFloor R. Work to date has included testing and a recent workshop led by AISC. Recent work is summarized in this post.
In cooperation with AISC and SDI the team is working to validate concrete-filled steel deck floor systems with depths greater than currently allowed in AISC 360 (i.e. 3 in. (76 mm)) and better understand the influence of edge details. This effort is led by Matt Eatherton at VT with recent results such as summarized in this post.
SDII is a collaborative dedicated to innovation in steel building systems. SDII was formed in 2015 to address specific challenges in concrete-filled and bare steel deck diaphragm systems and this first phase concluded in 2021. In 2022 SDII expanded, in Phase II, to more generally address innovation in steel building systems with a specific focus on the performance of steel floor systems.