On May 5 Boris Vladimirovich Gusev, president of the Russian Academy of Engineering (RAE), will deliver a speech at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Aside from the speech, which is entitled “The application of green construction materials and reused waste materials to solving ecological problems,” his visit is doubly significant to Taiwan. Gusev today (May 4) awarded one of Taiwan’s own with the Engineering Prowess Award of the RAE, one of the academy’s highest honors. The recipient, Samuel Yin, is chairman of Ruentex Group and chief development officer, chief technology officer, and chief engineer of Ruentex Construction Group. The Moscow-based academy has recognized Yin for his invention of “five-spiral reinforcement” technology (known also as: Yin’s Spiral), a time and material-saving technology for the reinforcement of concrete columns. The technology has already been patented in Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea, Great Britain, the US, and Canada, and now has been allowed for fair use in Russia by the inventor. It has numerous advantages over other precast technologies: it is automated, provides superior seismic resistance, and reduces material requirements, making it a construction technology better fit for a carbon-conscious world.
Gusev said that this spiral reinforcement technology, which was originally meant for cylindrical concrete columns, has been applied to the rectangular and square columns which so often serve as structural columns in buildings and bridges. This breakthrough application, he adds, has greatly boosted the structural integrity of structures that use it, while also shrinking their carbon footprint. Overall, it is a huge contribution to humanity.
Former Taiwan Concrete Institute President Chang Ta-Peng observed that in Taiwan, a country in a seismically active area, it is easy to see the devastating results should concrete structures fail. The 921 Earthquake in 1999 and the more recent earthquake in Tainan both felled numerous structures, and caused massive losses of life. Both events show the regrettable consequences of ineffective reinforcement.
National Centre for Research on Earthquake Engineering Director Chang Kuo-Chen facilitated many breakthrough experiments on concrete columns. He was responsible for proving the relative seismic advantages of Yin’s five-spiral reinforcement, which eliminated many engineering problems, such as the difficulty working on-site with 135-degree hooks and the weak seismic resistance of 90-degree hooks. Director Chang mentioned that these technologies have already been incorporated into the seismic design codes and reconstruction of buildings in Taiwan, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Fukien. They have also been positively assessed by the American Concrete Institute and the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Honorary member of the American Concrete Institute Tony Liu also had words of praise for the technology, which he said is a combination of precision and precast technologies. He added that this once-in-a-century breakthrough has increased both the efficiency and quality of construction projects, and provided an expedient solution for the erection of high-tech facilities and residential buildings in earthquake-prone areas.
That Gusev has personally decided to come to Taiwan to deliver the award on behalf of the Russian engineering field is of special significance to Yin’s contributions to the industry. It proves the real-world applicability of Yin’s numerous inventions in the engineering field, not just his eponymous spiral, but also his one-loop stirrup and seismic isolation installation technologies. But even more so, it confirms Yin’s contributions to both Taiwan and to the lives of a vast number of human beings.
