Ahmed M. Abdel-Ghaffar, an internationally known University of Southern California civil engineering professor specializing in the analysis and monitoring of long-span flexible bridges, died April 17, at the age of 61, after a long illness.
Abdel-Ghaffar’s 1974 investigation of the dynamic characteristics of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles, done when he was a graduate student, helped set new standards on how to collect, analyze and interpret structural dynamic measurements from complex, three-dimensional, extended structures. His research led to development of high-fidelity computational tools used to reliably design such structures to resist the action of earthquake ground motion.