Advances in simulating post-earthquake recovery for performance-based engineering and resilience

Abstract

The performance-based earthquake engineering paradigm has enabled a dramatic shift in the way that some damage-resistant buildings are being designed. By enabling the more explicit targeting and verification of performance in large earthquakes, building owners have an increased opportunity to achieve enhanced performance with limited additional cost. And ongoing research is extending this paradigm to encompass a broader set of performance metrics related to the impacts of regional damage and post-earthquake recovery activities. This presentation will highlight developments in performance-based engineering research and practice in the United States. Progress has depended upon advancements in developing standards of practice, standardized performance metrics, practical software tools, and fundamental research. Recent developments related to resilience assessment, and exemplary successful projects, will be presented.

Biography

Jack Baker's work focuses on the development and use of probabilistic and statistical tools for managing risk due to extreme loads on the built environment. He has investigated seismic loads on spatially distributed systems, characterization of earthquake ground motions, performance of damaged infrastructure systems, and probabilistic risk assessments of a number of types of structures. Prof. Baker joined the Stanford faculty in 2006 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), where he was a visiting researcher in the Department of Structural Engineering. In 2015-2016 he was a Visiting Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury. He has degrees in Structural Engineering (Stanford, M.S. 2002, Ph.D. 2005), Statistics (Stanford, M.S. 2004) and Mathematics/Physics (Whitman College, B.A. 2000). He has industry experience in seismic hazard assessment, ground motion selection, probabilistic risk assessment, and modelling of catastrophe losses for insurance and reinsurance companies. His awards include the Shah Family Innovation Prize from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, the Early Achievement Research Award from the International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability, the Walter L. Huber Prize from ASCE, and the Eugene L. Grant Award for excellence in teaching from Stanford.