Rules & Grading Rubric
Submission of Responses by Participating Teams
Grading Rubric (Scoring and Judging)
Analysis Software Provisions and Terms of Use
1.1 The Progressive Collapse Resistance Competition (PCRC) is intended for the participation of undergraduate engineering students as well as graduate engineering students and professionals (engineers, architects and other professionals).
1.2 Competition will be conducted at two levels. Undergraduate students will compete at Level 1. Graduate students and Professionals will compete at Level 2. The performance of contestants at each level will be evaluated separately.
1.3 Contestants cannot participate in this competition individually. Each participant must be a member of a team. Restrictions about teams are given in Section 2.
1.4 Undergraduate students must be enrolled at an accredited 4 or 5 year University.
1.5 No age restrictions will apply.
1.6 Eligibility is based on the status of the student at the time of submission of the team response. Students who submit their responses while attending and subsequently graduate before the evaluation of the responses will remain eligible.
2.1 Level 1 teams
a. Level 1 teams will be composed of no fewer than two and no more than four undergraduate students. All members in each team must be considered eligible under the definitions in Section 1.
b. Graduate students and professional engineers cannot participate in Level 1 teams.
c. Each Level 1 team needs to have an advisor (See Section 3). An advisor may advise more than one Level 1 team.
d. More than one team from the same university can compete.
e. Contestants may register as a member of only one team.
f. If one or more members of a group decide to drop out of the competition, those who wish to continue participating may do so by re-registering for a new team. See section 4.7 for withdrawal procedure.
g. If a group of two or three members decides to pick-up additional team members, the new team may re-register under a new name and ID.
2.2 Level 2 teams
a. Level 2 teams will be composed of two or three graduate students or professionals.
b. More than one team from the same university (or company, institution) can compete.
c. If a group of two members decides to pick-up additional team members, the new team may re-register under a new name
2.3 Both Level 1 and Level 2 teams must identify a member as a Team Leader. Team Leaders are responsible for communication with the advisor (undergraduate students only), organizing meetings, producing an adequate team schedule/work load, and ensuring the completion and submission of any registration and competition documentation.
3.1 An advisor is a member of the faculty who provides assistance to a participating Level 1 team. An advisor is only necessary for undergraduate students.
3.2 Level 1 teams are required to submit the "Validation of Eligibility" form signed by their advisor.
3.3 An advisor may assist in any of the following manner:
a. Clarify and/or provide an explanation of the rules.
b. Provide basic instructions for the use of analysis software.
c. Answer and clarify basic theoretical questions and concepts to students.
3.4 An advisor may not:
a. Perform any analytical calculation or modeling to benefit the progress of a team.
3.5 An advisor cannot participate in the competition as a contestant.
3.6 At the end of the competition, advisors will submit a written summary accounting any type of assistance they may have provided to Level 1 teams. This summary will be reviewed by the judges and used to evaluate the performance of the team.
4.1 Contestants are to register for the PCRC through the competition website (www.pcrc2007.neu.edu)
4.2 Registration is free to all contestants.
4.3 Registration must be completed by the registration deadline provided in the schedule posted at the competition website. The competition website will not allow any registration after the registration deadline.
4.4 Contestants are required to submit all information asked in the registration process.
4.5 Upon completion of the registration process each team will have a team-name, password and identification number. Teams will use their team-names and passwords to login to the competition website.
4.6 After the completion of registration and once the team identification number has been received, no changes may be made to any team members or advisors, unless under conditions described in Section 2.1.g and 2.2.c.
4.7 If a team wishes to withdraw from the competition for any reason they may do so by contacting the competition organizers at their e-mail address.
4.8 After withdrawal, any contestants wishing to continue with the competition may re-register if the registration deadline has not passed.
4.9 Providing any false information or submitting any information (such as team names) with inappropriate language will result in immediate disqualification without chance of appeal.
4.10 Any member of a disqualified team will not be permitted to re-register as part of another team.
5. Submission of Responses by Participating Teams
5.1 Contestants will be required to submit responses before the deadline addressed in the competition website. Evaluation and scoring of the performance of participating teams will be based on their responses. Winners of the competition will be decided based on the final scores of the participating teams.
5.2 The questions that contestants will answer will be available on the competition website on September 11, 2007.
5.3 Submissions of responses will be made through the competition website. Contestants can submit their responses by logging-in with their team-names and passwords.
5.4 Only one submission is permitted for each team. After submission, no changes will be accepted. ALL SUBMITTED WORK IS FINAL.
5.5 Submission through the competition website will be confirmed via e-mail only after all necessary components are verified.
5.6 All submissions of work will be done via the Internet and the competition organizers do not hold any responsibility for any difficulties contestants may encounter due to access problems or connection issues.
6. Grading Rubric (Scoring and Judging)
6.1 For each level (Level 1 and Level 2), questions are divided into two parts: quantitative and qualitative. Each team is required to answer to the questions (see Section 5). Participating teams will prepare their responses according to instructions that will be given on the competition website.
6.2 Weights of the quantitative and qualitative questions are equal (50% each). Each question will have a score and the total score will be 100.
6.3 The contestants will gain a score from a quantitative question using the following graph:
6.4 If contestants answer agrees with the test result, then contestants will get 100 % of the score that was designated to the question. If contestants answer is less than the 50% of the test result or more than the 150% of the test result then the contestants will not get any point for the question. If contestants answer is between the 50% and 150% of the test result then the participant will get a percentage of the score that was designated to the question according to the graph above.
6.5 The qualitative questions are composed of two parts. The first part is a written description of Modeling and Assumptions, and conclusion having a total score of 20. The second part includes a set of specific qualitative questions, having a total score of 30.
6.6 The answers to the qualitative questions is limited to 3 pages including figures and tables.
6.7 For qualitative questions, a panel of judges will decide the score based on the accuracy, clarity and the presentation of the answers. The panel of judges will be composed of a group of experts in the field of Progressive Collapse. Judges will have access only to the team names and not to the identities of contestants.
7. Analysis Software Provisions and Terms of Use
7.1 The following software will be provided to the participating competition teams for a limited period of use.
a. SAP2000 (provided by the competition organizers)
b. OpenSEES (through download from the software website)
c. Arcade (through download from the software website)
d. ELS (provided by the competition organizers)
Use of the computer programs mentioned above is at full responsibility of contestants. Competition organizers and sponsors do not hold any responsibility as a result of any misusing or illegal using of the software.
7.2 Contestants may use other software of similar nature.
a. Any such programs need to be approved by the competition organizers by e-mail.
b. If any such program is used, contestants must provide the competition organizers with a brief summary of the program (i.e. its capabilities) and its use in the competition.
7.3 Contestants responsibilities include the following:
a. Teams will be responsible for access to both computers and the internet.
b. The use of analysis software and any help necessary to its use will be the responsibility of the contestants.
5.1 The competition website will provide answers to questions received about the competition rules. Contestants may submit additional questions concerning any competition rules to the competition e-mail address (pcrc2007@neu.edu). Answers to these questions will be sent via e-mail and/or added to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section on the competition website.
9.1 All teams agree to abide by the terms of these official rules.
9.2 If any contestant engages in conduct judged by the competition organizers to be unsportsmanlike, then the contestant and his or her team will be permanently disqualified from the contest
9.3 The decisions of the competition organizers are final on all matters concerning the operation of this contest. All teams agree to be bound by the decisions of the competition organizers.
9.4 The published contest schedule and rules are subject to change. All contestants will be notified via competition website and e-mail if any such changes occur. Competition organizers hold the right to cancel the competition without prior notification any time.
9.5 Members of the winning teams grant the competition organizers and sponsors permission to use their names online, in print, or in any other media, in connection with the competition publicity.
9.6 By entering, contestants release and hold harmless the competition organizers and other sponsors, and any corresponding personnel from any and all liability for any injuries, loss, or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with the PCRC.
9.7 The competition organizers and other competition sponsors assume no responsibility for lost, late, or misdirected entries, or for any computer, communications, or other technical malfunctions that may occur during registration or submission of competition entries.
