Fahim Sadek, Ph.D., P.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE, a research structural engineer and the former leader of the Structures Group at the Engineering Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has been named a fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Sadek’s work has centered on the development of computational tools, validated by experimental testing and field studies, for the safe design of structures under extreme loads. In particular, he led several multidisciplinary teams on complex research projects, including wind engineering and structural reliability, mitigation of disproportionate collapse, fire performance and design of structures, and structural response to aging and degradation.
He has worked extensively in the field of wind engineering, where his contributions include database-assisted, reliability-based design procedures for low- and high-rise structures. Sadek led the project Baseline Structural Performance and Aircraft Impact Damage Analysis as part of the NIST investigation into the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings. The project involved development and analysis of sophisticated finite element models of the towers to establish their baseline performance under design loading conditions and to estimate probable damage to the towers due to aircraft impact.
Following the WTC investigation, he led projects on mitigation of progressive collapse of structural systems and fire performance of structures. The projects focused on development of experimentally validated computational tools for assessment of structural robustness and structural response to thermally induced loads. His research more recently shifted to evaluation of structures and infrastructure undergoing degradation due to aging and chemical attacks. Sadek developed advanced computational models to assess the effects of alkali-silica reaction on reinforced concrete structures and validated these models against experiments he designed. Currently, he co-leads the Structural Engineering Project as part of NIST’s investigation into the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, in 2021.
As the former leader of the Structures Group at NIST, Sadek provided technical leadership for a research team of more than 12 structural engineers. He managed research programs on Structural Performance under Multi-hazards and Fire Risk Reduction in Buildings.
His body of work resulted in advancement of building codes and standards. He played a key role in the development of the new standard provisions ASCE/SEI 76 Standard for Mitigation of Disproportionate Collapse Potential in Buildings and Other Structures. Additionally, Sadek serves as a voting member on the AISC Committee on Specifications and Task Committee 8 on Fire Design of Structures, where he made significant contributions to Appendix 4 (“Structural Design for Fire Conditions”) and its commentary of the ANSI/AISC 360 Specification for Structural Steel Buildings.
Sadek has contributed to the structural engineering’s body of knowledge through more than 140 technical publications, two edited books, several keynote and invited lectures, and numerous conference presentations. He was interviewed and featured in a number of news articles, among them The New York Times (January 6, 2004), Dallas Morning News (October 7, 2009), and Popular Mechanics (November 2010).
Sadek received his doctoral degree in structural engineering from Southern Methodist University in 1996.
