Mini-Symposium 3: “Simulation-based structural vulnerability assessment and risk quantification in earthquake engineering” is organised by Agathoklis Giaralis, Alexandros Taflanidis, and Dimitrios Vamvatsikos (http://www.icvram2014.org/MS-3-Giaralis-Taflanidis-Vamvatsikos.php)
Please visit the conference webpages for additional information – including information about the submission of abstracts.
PEER and the EERI Northern California Chapter jointly hosted the EERI distinguished lecture “The New Normal for Natural Disasters” by Professor Tom O’Rourke from Cornell University on December 6, 2012 at UC Berkeley. This lecture discussed the effects of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, Canterbury Earthquake Sequence, and Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy with respect to their impact on regional and international economics, national practices for security and recovery, and worldwide energy policy. The recording is now posted at PEER’s YouTube channel with the intermittent audio static from the live webcast removed.
For those who would rather watch a live presentation, check out the opportunity towatch Professor O’Rourke live at Stanford University on March 7th as a part of the Shah Family Fund Distinguished Lecture Series.
Title: Earthquake Effects on Critical Infrastructure
Speaker: Tom O’Rourke, Thomas R. Briggs Professor of Engineering, Cornell University
Date: March 7, 2013
Time: 4:30pm (Reception at 4:00pm)
Location: Stanford University, Li Ka Shing Conference Center, LKS240/250 Directions
Abstract: The effects of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and Canterbury Earthquake Sequence are discussed with respect to their impact on regional and international economics, national practices for security and recovery, and worldwide energy policy. The lecture explains why these events require a fundamental re-thinking of the way we evaluate the risks of extreme events, as well as define and protect critical infrastructure. The impact of the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence on the underground infrastructure in Christchurch is explored with the use of an extraordinary GIS data set covering the effects of both liquefaction-induced permanent ground deformation and transient ground motion for 3 different earthquakes. Lessons learned from Christchurch for Wellington, NZ and San Francisco, CA are discussed. To address the need for protection against rare, high consequence events with limited financial resources, a strategy for improving infrastructure resilience is proposed.
The
NEESR project entitled NEESR-CR: Performance-Based Design for
Cost-Effective Seismic Hazard Mitigation in New Buildings Using
Supplemental Passive Damper Systems (PI: Richard Sause) is currently
conducting a series of large-scale real-time hybrid simulations (RTHS)
on a 3-story steel frame building at the Real-time Multi-directional
(RTMD) Earthquake Simulation Facility, the Lehigh NEES Equipment Site.
The goal for this NEESR project is to develop
a validated, probabilistic, performance-based seismic design procedure
for buildings with passive damping systems.The
RTHS data will be used to observe and understand the interactions of
the viscous dampers with the braces, beams, and columns of the
experimental substructure as well as the interactions
between the steel frame with the dampers and the rest of the building.
The project team has developed detailed analytical (numerical
simulation) models of the prototype building with nonlinear viscous
dampers, and the RTHS data will be used to validate the
models. RTHS
will take place February 21 – 22, 2013 between 1 and 4 pm EST. The RTHS
test matrix includes conducting a series of simulations using an
ensemble of 13 earthquake records at the design
basis earthquake (DBE) level. The RTHS can be viewed by telepresence,
where webcams and the Real-Time Data Viewer can be used to view video,
data and animation of the response of the building acquired from the
RTHS. To learn more or to remotely participate,
go to the following link (http://www.nees.lehigh.edu/rths-of-mrf-dbf-system-with-viscous-dampers). Result (including video) from completed tests will also be archived and
available at the previous link and through the Project Warehouse on NEES.org. Also, follow us on Facebook to get up to the minute simulation updates from our
research team.
The
project is a collaborative effort that includes California State
University, Northridge; California State Polytechnic University, Pomoma;
Lehigh University; The Pennsylvania State University,
Erie; and Tokyo Institute of Technology. Industry partners include
Corry Rubber Company, Taylor Devices, Miyamoto International, Inc. and
Simpson Gumpertz & Heger. More information about the above NEESR project can be found here. You are encouraged to visit the RTMD website to learn about the capabilities of the Lehigh NEES Equipment Site and completed and ongoing research projects. Data can be accessed at NEEShub for the completed projects.
10th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering
Frontiers of Earthquake Engineering
July 21-25, 2014
Anchorage, Alaska
Purpose
The Tenth U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, on the 50th Anniversary of theGreat Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami, will provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to share the latest knowledge and techniques to mitigate the damaging effects of earthquakes and tsunamis. This conference is being planned by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) in collaboration with the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES). The conference will provide a unique environment to facilitate synergy between professionals and student researchers from the U.S. and around the world. This conference brings together professionals from a broad range of disciplines, including architecture, structural engineering, seismology, geology, geophysics, geotechnical engineering, business, public policy, social sciences, regional planning, emergency response planning, and regulation.
Call for Papers
Authors must submit abstracts and papers online. The deadline for submission of abstracts is March 31, 2013. The abstract collection system will open January 7, 2013. Additional detailed instructions are available at the conference website http://www.10ncee.org.
Special Sessions
The conference will include a small number of Special Sessions. Those interested in organizing and chairing a Special Session should contact either of the Technical Program committee co-chairs, Scott Ashford (Scott.Ashford@oregonstate.edu) or Greg Deierlein (ggd@stanford.edu), by February 15, 2013.
More Information
For more information view the 1st Announcement and Call for Papers at http://10ncee.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/10NCEE_Call-for-Papers.pdf or visit the conference website at http://www.10ncee.org.
Professor Nicolas Ambraseys Dip.Eng DIC PhD FICE FREng (Greek: Νικόλαος Αμβράζης, born 1929 in Athens) is a Greek Engineering Seismologist. He was Professor and later Professor Emeritus of Engineering Seismology and Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College London. Professor Ambraseys studied Rural and Surveying Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (Diploma in 1952) and then Civil Engineering at Imperial College specialising in Soil Mechanics and Engineering Seismology. He worked with Professors Alec Skempton and Alan W. Bishop and obtained his PhD
degree in 1958; his thesis title was “The seismic stability of earth
dams”. He joined the staff in 1958 as a Lecturer and he was appointed a Reader in Engineering Seismology in 1968 and full Professor of Engineering Seismology in 1974. In 1968 he established the Engineering Seismology Section (ESEE) (now
part of the Geotechnics Section) in the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering of Imperial College and served as its first
Head from 1971 to 1994, until he retired and was reappointed as Senior
Research Investigator. He founded and became the first chairman of the
British National Committee of Earthquake Engineering (more on wikipedia).
Professor Ambraseys passed away on the 28th of December, 2012.
I remember Prof. Ambraseys from my MSc studies at Imperial College London back in the mid 90’s. No need to say much; anyone who has attended his lectures has an idea of the experience. His lectures were not based on writings on the board but on discussion. I particularly remember an example he gave one day on probability. He showed a slide on the overhead projector, with a train somewhere in Turkey, overturned by a surface fault which happened to be crossing the railway lines during an earthquake. I think it must had been near Erzincan. This time he used the blackboard. He calculated the probability of occurrence given the seismic hazard at the site, the probability of a surface faulting at the site of the incident, the probability of a train passing exactly the time of the faulting from this very site and the probability of the train being overturned. All and all, something of the order of 1e-10. Nearly impossible to happen. Nevertheless, the train had crashed and people had died. Still possible.
Therefore, he concluded, “you should see statistics in a relative and not in an absolute sense”. Every time I crash on uncertainty issues and every time I compute statistical measures I remember this quote. Statistics mean nothing on their own, unless you critically compare them with a carefully selected measure.
• Submission of abstract (300 words) by 15 January 2013 (EXTENDED DEADLINE).
Submission of abstracts and final papers will be done only electronically via the Congress e-mail: 10hstam@dpem.tuc.gr.
The Earthquake Damage Database has been launched, featuring a visual and fully searchable catalogue of structural damage due to earthquake loading in Greece. The database contains more than 300 photos with seismic-related metadata, georeference (where availlable) and commentary and aims to act as a visual educational tool for undergraduate and young Civil Engineers. Currently it is available only in Greek.
Official Website: http://asptetk.civil.auth.gr/Pages/Home.aspx
For further info or in case you are interested to submit your earthquake damage-related photos please contact: asextos@civil.auth.gr
A new computational system has been setup at the Department of Civil Engineering of Aristotle University Thessaloniki, Greece and will officially kick-off operation on December 14th, 2012. The HCOUPER (High COmputational University PERformance) is an integrated
system, aiming to provide computational services to the members of the Department with research interests in running applications that are demanding in computational time, storage capacity and
memory usage. It is a multi-user environment running both Linux & Windows
OS by dynamically allocating computational resources where needed. More information may be found at: http://hcouper.weebly.com
PRESS RELEASE ============= It is with
great regret that we have been informed about the primary conviction of
seven Italian scientists, considered responsible for the loss of human life
during the recent earthquake in L’Aquila. With deepest respect for each and
every human life lost due to this natural disaster, the Hellenic Society for Earthquake Engineering, would like to note the following:
– It is
commonly accepted within the scientific community worldwide, that there cannot
be a short-term prediction of earthquakes, nor can it be an accurate
determination of the space, time and intensity of a future seismic event. For
this reason, it is practically impossible to take any essential precaution
measures for the protection of citizens in an area that is sufficiently narrow
and within a reasonably short period of time. Citizens and the State ought to
know the limits of scientific knowledge and to accept the large uncertainties
associated with the prediction of seismic activity, which is unfortunately
still impossible to overcome. From a scientific point of view and in accordance
with all international guidelines and state-of-practice, the Italian colleagues
acted as any other scientist would have in a similar position.
– The
criminalization of the inherent scientific inability to exceed the current
state of knowledge, is not only unjust for the persons in charge of the Italian
National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks, who have
contributed at a great extent in the mitigation of seismic risk. It is expected
to inactivate all relevant Civil Protection Departments in Italy and worldwide,
which will be reluctant to act in the future based on actual data. This phobic
crisis management may also result into a seriously misleading assessment of the
probabilistic nature of seismic hazard. This fact alone may have severe
consequences on the economic and social life of all regions exposed to seismic
risk internationally. Most importantly, it raises serious questions regarding
the way in which the State and society view the scientific progress as a whole.
Based on
the above, we would like to express the full and unreserved support of the
Hellenic Department of Earthquake Engineering to the convicted colleagues. We
do hope that the Italian Authorities will beneficially assess the validity of
our allegations.
A minisymposium is organised in the framework of the 4th
International Conference on Computational Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering – COMPDYN 2013
(www.compdyn2013.org)
:
e-mail:asextos@civil.auth.gr description: The mini-symposium
will focus on recent advances in software development for
Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics purposes. More specifically, it will encourage contributions that
will demonstrate new software applications, web-based engineering tools, frameworks for
hybrid simulation and distributed computing, knowledge-based & expert
systems, finite
element programs, numerical analysis pre- and post- processing
front-ends, data and metadata dissemination and management
systems, high performance, parallel and cloud computing schemes,
applications for mobile devices and tablets as well as GIS-based
visualization tools. Emphasis will be primarily (but not
exclusively) given to the application of the above software
systems towards the
mitigation of seismic risk, the design and assessment of
earthquake resistant buildings and bridges, the assessment of
special and monumental structures, system identification and structural health
monitoring, performance-based engineering, seismic
isolation and control of structures, dynamic soil-structure
interaction, strong ground motion selection and scaling as well as
seismic wave propagation through the soil media. It is envisioned that the Symposium will constitute a forum
on the recently developed earthquake-engineering-related software
that will facilitate the dissemination of knowledge and promote the
interaction and cooperation between the developers and the
end-users.
A complete list of other interesting Minisymposia can be found here
IN ORDER TO SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT PLEASE USE MINI-SYMPOSIUM CODE: MS-25-CZ
Oakland,
California has been selected as the site of the Seventh National
Seismic Conference on Bridges & Highways (7NSC). The event will be
held May 20-22, 2013 at the Oakland Marriott City Center. The conference
theme is “Bridge Resilience for Earthquakes and Other Natural Hazards,”
indicating a broad scope. There will be presentations and discussions
of multiple hazards that may affect the performance of highway
infrastructure. California was chosen by the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) to host this conference based on the state’s past
experience with earthquakes and the Department of Transportation’s
(Caltrans) leadership in the field. D2BS98J4TVJZ
The
2013 conference builds upon previous successful meetings that have been
held in San Diego, Sacramento, Portland, Memphis, San Mateo, and
Charleston, SC. Based on past trends, attendance is expected to exceed
400 and will include representatives from private engineering practice,
government, construction, academia, and industry. This conference is a
premier gathering of transportation officials responsible for addressing
and mitigating the impact of all hazards on our highway infrastructure.
On
Sunday May 19, 2013, an optional pre-conference technical workshop will
be held. The main program will be held over the next 2½ days with over
75 oral and poster presentations, discussion panels, and a student
design competition. Several internationally renowned keynote speakers
are being invited to share information about some of the major
earthquakes that have occurred in other parts of the world in recent
years. In addition, a special session is planned that will highlight the
design and construction of the soon to be complete San Francisco –
Oakland Bay Bridge, with emphasis on the unique self-anchored suspension
span. An optional technical tour will also be provided.
In
the days prior to the 7NSC, FHWA is planning to hold the First
International Bridge Seismic Workshop, also in Oakland. Dr. W. Phillip
Yen, FHWA Principal Bridge Engineer – Structural Dynamics, is Chairman
of the 7NSC and the International Workshop.
For more information, visit the conference web site.
RCsolver is a software for
the quick and accurate design of concrete members according to Eurocode
specifications (primarily 2 and 8). RCsolver provides a 3-dimensional
presentation of the concrete members along with the calculated tensile
and shear reinforcement bars, as well as the full calculation procedure
according to Eurocode specifications, acting as a great engineering-teaching as well as a valuable tool for engineers that
wish to quickly check their calculations.
RCSolver free version is available at the software website
15WCEE Seminar Series: Professor K. Kawashima on “Ground motion and Tsunami induced damage on structures due to the great
East Japan earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. Emphasis on damage
in bridge structures.”
Seminar tool place in March 2012.
Symposium on “Seismic assessment and retrofit of bridges” is being organized by Prof. Andreas Kappos, within the framework of the COMPDYN 2013 conference http://www.compdyn2013.org/ that is organized under the auspices of the European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS) and the International Association for Computational Mechanics (IACM). This is the fourth conference in the COMDYN series and will take place from 12 to 14 June 2013 at the Kos International Convention Centre (KICC) in the beautiful island of Kos.
An abstract of no more than an A4 page can be submitted by 29 October 2012, following the instructions given at the Conference website (see address above) and making sure that you indicate that the abstract is submitted for MS14 (Mini-Symposium 14)
It is aimed that the Symposium will constitute a forum for the exchange of research results and ideas on currently available procedures and their applicability to the seismic assessment and retrofit of bridges. As such, pertinent issues such as modelling of bridge members strengthened using different techniques, modelling of interfaces, calibration of models against tests results, etc, will be amongst the topics open to debate and scrutiny. Hence the Symposium will provide a valuable contribution to the further development and implementation of methodologies for the seismic assessment and retrofit of bridges and contribute to risk reduction in these critical structures.
Rare shot of tall buildings vibrating due to the Japan earthquake. When sometimes is better to align with the nature’s forces instead of resisting them.. [click ‘Read more’ to view the video]
Director Stephen Mahin’s recent research test for the NEEStips project at the nees@berkeley lab is featured in a new exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The new exhibit, called “EARTHQUAKE: Life on a Dynamic Planet,” explores the seismic science that has shaped Earth’s evolution and continues to impact our lives today.
A key feature of the new exhibit is the Earthquake planetarium show, in the largest all-digital planetarium in the world. The show explores the forces that transform the earth’s surface by examining the San Andreas Fault and San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake. The show concludes with a focus on how engineers today help buildings resist earthquake shaking safely and highlights the benefits of earthquake resisting features, such as seismic isolation.
The nees@berkeley staff and researchers worked closely with the California Academy of Sciences to film the seismically isolated two bay, two story specimen that was being tested on nees@berkeley’s new hybrid shaking table. The final resulting footage used in the planetarium show depicts the specimen being shaken as it zooms into a close up to one of the isolators. If you go to see the planetarium show, be sure to look for the nees@berkeley team in the credits!
For more information about research highlighted in the planetarium show, watch an interview with Professor Mahin about the NEEStips testing at UC Berkeley. Professor Keri Ryan of University Nevada, Reno is the PI of the NEEStips research program.
The First International Conference on Performance-based and Life-cycle Structural Engineering (PLSE 2012) organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University will be held in Hong Kong on 5-7 December 2012. The following nine world-renowned researchers have agreed to deliver Keynote Lectures at the conference:
Professor Nick BUENFELD, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Professor Oral BUYUKOZTURK, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
Professor Gregory G. DEIERLEIN, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, United States
Professor Filip C. FILIPPOU, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, United States
Professor Dan FRANGOPOL, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Lehigh University, United States
Professor Koichi MAEKAWA, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Professor Jin-Ping OU, School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, China
PARENG2013
The Third International Conference onParallel, Distributed, Grid and Cloud Computing for Engineering
Pécs, Hungary25-27 March 2013.
Abstracts of papers to be presented at the above conference may now be submitted via the conference website: http://www.civil-comp.com/conf/pareng2013.htm
Young Researcher Best Paper Competition: To encourage young researchers to attend the conference a 1000 Euro Young Researcher Best Paper Prize will be awarded to the best paper presented at the conference. (For further details please see the conference website).
Seismosoft has announced the release of SeismoArtif, an application capable of generating artificial
earthquake accelerograms matched to a specific target response spectrum
using different calculation methods and varied assumptions. In other
words, the ideal companion tool of SeismoMatch, to be used in those cases where spectrum matching of real accelerograms is not pursuable.
In
tandem with this new release, Seismosoft has also published new versions of
SeismoSignal, SeismoSpect and SeismoMatch. In the News
section of the official website it is possible to get a glimpse of the novelties and
improvements introduced in these programs, which can all be downloaded
from here
.
