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SEAONC Post Newsletter - Connection Past President Interview

Published on 6/1/2022

Reinhard Ludke

Reinhard.Ludke.SE@gmail.com

SEAONC president: 2008-2009


Highlight one thing you worked on during your time as SEAONC president.
Website

Why did you become a structural engineer?
My first job after taking a general program of courses for a Bachelor’s Degree of Civil Engineering and graduating in 1973 from SUNY Buffalo, was with the San Francisco firm, Earl & Wright Consulting Engineers. Earl & Wright was a pioneering firm with marine engineering and ocean structures in the early years of going into the oceans to recover oil and gas in the deposits discovered offshore. I was assigned to work on oil and gas production projects in Alaska including the 1975 Valdez Pipeline Terminal berthing and mooring dolphins, in Cook Inlet; 1973 New Zealand; and the North Sea Thistle Field and Ninian Field structures. I was a “young” Engineer that “knew” (I actually studied and learned this on the job) computer based structural analysis, so I was asked to make the Platform Structure Models, geometry, member properties, boundary conditions, and prepare gravity, wind, wave, current and earthquake load cases and perform the structure analysis. We prepared the analysis input files in SF, used STRUDL software running on an IBM main frame computer in Houston, Texas, with output printed, across town, on the 24th floor of One Embarcadero Center. I had to walk across town to get the “output” printed paper. Sometimes the “output” was 20 inches of paper with only IBM computer job control input errors? This was the very early days of computer structure analysis. I had one assignment where I used a Lockheed version of NONSAP to model and analyze a complex tubular joint of a 10 m diameter self-floating platform leg, ring stiffened and longitudinal stiffened steel shell penetrated by two 1 m diameter steel pipe tower members, a horizontal pipe and a brace pipe, all welded connection at an internal vertical leg tubular joint. The objective was to determine the Stress Concentration Factor [SCF] in these joints. It took me six weeks to manually calculate and input the XYZ finite elements joint coordinates of all the shell, plate, and beam elements of this complex steel joint. Today, Software can generate a Finite Element Model? I made an axisymmetric model with “proper” node boundary conditions. The SCF was needed to determine the “fatigue life” of these structures, and the “maximum” cyclic stress range in the continuous dynamic loads of waves and wind in the ocean. I was using a complex and powerful FEM program while I did not understand the “guts of the FEM program” structure models, finite elements mathematic model, and the automated matrix solution methods programmed into the NONSAP and STRUDL FEM programs that I used for ocean structures analysis. Use of these programs resulted in the solution of structure displacements and then the translation to stresses and forces and then design ant then construction Plans and Specifications. Because of a big gap in my Structure Analysis undergraduate education I knew that I wanted to learn more about “what I was doing” and in 1975 I applied to U.C. Berkeley, Structural Engineering and Structural Mechanics [SESM]. I was accepted, and I was selected to be a 1975 – 1976 SESM Teaching Assistant. The years after my 1973 Buffalo graduation, first job designing offshore oil and gas production platforms, to my 1977 graduation from Berkeley with a Master of Science degree, are the beginning and foundation of my 50 year career as a California Structural Engineer. I am a builder, so this career is perfect for me.

Who were some of your mentors?
Jonathan G. Wright, Bill Martinovich, T.Y. Lin, Charles Redfield

Why did you become so professionally active?
I prefer to be involved and lead activities rather than just participate or be an external observer. I knew it was good in many ways to interact with other structural engineers in a professional association. SEAONC was local and accessible, SEAONC members led the national development of Building Code seismic design requirements, and SEAONC is very relevant for the profession.

What do you consider some of your greatest accomplishments?
Career: I had a very diverse Structure Engineer career and was a Company Founder/Owner in 1986. My company provided engineering for: Marine Structures; High Rise Buildings; Railroad, Highway and Pedestrian Bridges; and earthquake retrofit engineering for Caltrans California bridges and EBMUD, SFPUC, and MMWD water storage structures.

Long term clients including: Caltrans; GGBHTD; EBMUD; SFDPW; SF Airport; Port of San Francisco, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Alameda County, Sonoma County, Solano County, etc.

Personal: My daughter Jan A. Ludke, M.D. and my son Benjamin W. Ludke
Mountain Trekking, Backpacking and Climbing including: Sierra Nevada, Rocky Mountains, Switzerland Alps, Austria Alps, Italy Dolomites, Nepal Himalaya, Peru Andes, Chili Patagonia, & Argentina Patagonia. I am hiking and staying in mountain refugios in the Italian Dolomites for 11 days in July, 2022 and a 14 days trekking/camping trip in Cordillera Huayhuash, Andes Mountains, over multiple +15,000 ft and one16,000 ft passes, camping and sleeping in a tent, near Huarez, Peru in August, 2022.

What was the most challenging/fun project in your career?
1998 – The First ESPN Winter X-Games in Snow Summit, California - Ice Climbing Structure I got to work with and becomes friends with some world champion technical mountain/rock/ice climbers including Jeff Lowe. Among other firsts, Jeff is noted for climbing single on a new technical route up the North Face of Eiger Mountain near Grindenwald, Switzerland. I collaborated with Jeff in developing a three-legged 100 ft high pedestal structure that supported perimeter refrigeration blankets so he could make the three faces of 18 inch thick ice walls for the X-Games ice climbing competition. This structure had bolted joints so it could be dismantled and moved from Snow Summit to Aspen, Colorado for the next winter ESPN X–Games ice climbing competition.

What was your most memorable/favorite SEAONC experience?
I enjoyed presenting technical papers and participating in the Technical Committee of all SEAOC/SEAONC led Hawaii Conventions. I was the Chairman of the 2012 SEAOC Santa Fe, New Mexico, Convention. SEAOC members had GREAT fun at the CSI sponsored Art Gallery Friday social night and the Live Western Band,Tequila Luge, and Line Dancing with instructor at the Saturday social event. I made each section, SEAOSC, SEAOSD, SEAOCC, and SEAONC members/guests get up as group and western line dance (tequila helped lower inhibitions). Everyone “had” to participate and they enjoyed western line dancing. This theme and detail was my wife’s idea. She was the Convention Social Director. Santa Fe, New Mexico is a “cool” town.

Tell us something about yourself that isn’t on your professional resume?
I swim 2000 yds at 5:30 am on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. I have been a swimmer for 38 years.

I have played tennis since I was 16 years old on my high school tennis team and I am now a member of the Marin Tennis Club and play doubles tennis 4 or 5 days per week. I am a good 4.0 USTA +70 year old tennis player.

I am a mountain bike rider and helped with the 2014 – 2015 construction of the Marin Museum of Bicycling and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, Fairfax, California. I am good friends with Joe Breeze, Otis Guy, Charlie Kelly and Marc Vandetti who in the mid 1970’s were the creators, inventors, and pioneers of mountain biking on “klunkers” and then built/developed the first Mountain Bikes, now a +$2 billion annual international industry. The largest international bike sales today are e-bikes.

I am a finger-picker, steel string, folk guitar player. My guitar: Washburn J28S

What or who inspires you?
Golden Gate Bridge Architecture; Santiago Calatrava – his design and structures, T. Y. Lin; Steve Jobs – design of extraordinary electronic consumer products - Apple computer, ipod, & iphone; Elon Musk - extraordinary scientist and PAYPAL, Space-X, and TESLA companies CEO and entrepreneur.

Provide one little known fact about yourself.
I was born in Varel, Germany.

Why have you been in the structural engineering profession for as long as you have?
I enjoy “creating and design and engineering and building” and the people I get to work with.

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