Evening Meetings

Synthetic ground motion signals (hereinafter, "ground motions" or "GMs"), simulated at fine grid spacing, represent an attractive option for loss estimation purposes within the catastrophe risk modelling framework. Among stakeholders the general concern is that simulated GMs may not be equivalent to real (e.g., recorded during past earthquakes) records in estimating seismic structural demand, and hence, in estimating the induced damages to structures and losses. To overcome this, the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) has established a Technical Activity Group (TAG) focused on Ground Motion Simulation Validation (GMSV) in order to develop and implement testing/rating methodologies via collaboration between ground motion modellers and engineering users worldwide. Within the GSMV TAG, a significant bulk of research has been produced to validate simulated GMs for past earthquakes using intensity measures (conventional and advanced) and several engineering demand metrics, i.e., elastic and inelastic response spectra, generalized interstory drift and floor accelerations spectra, buildings and bridge inelastic responses and fragilities.

Modern buildings are constructed to meet various performance criteria including their survivability against natural disasters. Earthquakes have always been considered to be one of the most important natural phenomena, based on their capability of causing catastrophic damage in very short space of time. To minimise damage to buildings and to save human life, seismic performance levels are generally specified. Typically, these vary from operational, immediate occupancy, life safety and collapse prevention depending on the protection required. To achieve these seismic performance levels, an integrated approach is necessary, where both structural and non-structural parts of the building are designed and constructed to meet the same criteria. International and national building codes/standards cover extensively the structural requirements, but in the majority of cases non-structural components are neglected. When it comes to best practice, the International Building Code(IBC), developed in the USA, is one of the leading standards, providing design guidelines for non-structural components. The IBC also refers to ASCE/SEI 7-10, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures. Chapter 13 of ASCE/SEI 7-10 deals with seismic design requirements for non-structural building components.

The recent growth of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panel systems in Europe has launched timber as a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to concrete and steel buildings, however CLT panel systems require a large number of internal structural walls which limits the flexibility of architectural design. CLT and other engineered timber materials such as Laminated Veneer Lumber, high-grade glue-Lam make the use of post-tensioning techniques a feasible option for timber buildings.

In this talk we will present the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) framework for constructing vulnerability functions from post-earthquake survey data. This flexible framework allows for the use of data collected with different techniques and at different levels of detail (e.g. building by building damage data or aggregated over areas), and adopts statistical models of increasing complexity according to the level of the user and the needs of the data. Examples are provided to show the impact of using different statistical models on the fragility curves derived. In reviewing the literature and in developing the guidelines, it was observed that the reliability of the empirical fragility functions is strongly influenced by the quality and quantity of post-earthquake survey data used. The best quality data comes from specialist earthquake reconnaissance efforts. However data from such reconnaissance is typically small in size and biased. Hence, we will explore the question as to whether we can change the way specialist teams carry out their data collection in order to develop statistically reliable fragility functions.

Finite Element (FE) simulation, in conjunction with nonlinear structural analysis is increasingly used by structural engineers to characterize the performance of structural components and systems. However, interpreting the results (i.e., limiting values of stress and strain demands) of these FE simulations is not straightforward, especially when they are used to assess fracture safety. This is even more challenging for seismic design of structures where traditional fracture mechanics is unreliable where components are designed to undergo large-scale yielding. The talk will summarize recent developments in applications of nonlinear analysis to seismic design and research on continuum-based fracture mechanics, which can reliably assess fracture under these conditions. Applications of these approaches to recent engineering applications and research projects will be presented, along with a discussion of their limitations.

SARAID is a British charity dedicated to trying to save the lives of innocent victims of disaster, as well as relieving human suffering around the world regardless of colour, creed, religion and political persuasion.

Staffed entirely by volunteers and funded solely by public donations, SARAID is on call 365 days a year, always ready to provide trained Search and Rescue personnel, free of charge to any country in need of assistance. Its membership includes serving fire-fighters, paramedics, doctors and engineers, as well as office workers and builders.

A straightforward vulnerability methodology, named FAST method, for seismic vulnerability assessment of infilled reinforced concrete buildings, has been carried out using the consolidated probabilistic framework employed in Performance Based Earthquake Engineering, and some simplified hypotheses matching building stock characteristics of different Mediterranean countries (e.g. Italy, Spain). FAST method describes the vulnerability relationships (also called fragility curves) in terms of peak ground acceleration (PGA) calculated from the estimated mean inelastic drift capacities of infilled RC buildings for various damage states (DS).

In this meeting, Dr Katsu Goda reviews recent advances in tsunami hazard and risk mapping and presents the state-of-the-art approaches for visualising tsunami hazard/risk. Dr Goda also demonstrates how Monte Carlo tsunami simulations can be used for tsunami risk mitigation decisions effectively.

Permanent ground displacements (PGDs) consist one of the most critical loading conditions that need to be taken into account for the design of buried pipelines. This evening meeting, presented by Dr Dimitris Karamitros, reviews current techniques for the rigorous performance-based design of pipelines in earthquake-prone areas. 

In this talk, Pierre Sollogoup will describe existing techniques for base-isolation of nuclear power plant. He will present some examples of constructed facilities and projects. A review of existing nuclear design recommendations and codes around the world will also be given.

The brittle collapse in recent earthquakes of reinforced concrete (RC) structures built before the introduction of detailed seismic design codes has underlined the need for significant upgrades to the existing RC building stock. Retrofit schemes based on fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) are popular. However, experimental evidence for the efficiency of such schemes are based on reduced-scale testing with various model simplifications, which may lead to unrealistic performance assessments. In this meeting, Daniel Pohoryles and José Melo from the UCL EPICentre will present findings from full-scale testing of carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP) retrofit schemes for existing RC structures.

This presentation will provide an overview of recent developments in the estimation of earthquake ground motions. Researchers working in this field of engineering seismology has achieved significant progress in the past decade, but still face a number of challenges. The presenter will also provide his viewpoint on possible future directions in the field.

In this presentation, Dr Richard Luckett will talk about the recent seismological investigations at LKAB's SILA facility in Narvik, Norway, where large quantities of iron ore are transferred from trains onto ships. The transfer process causes ground borne vibration which has been felt by nearby residents.

The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) has developed databases, tools and models useful for the assessment of earthquake hazard and risk at local, regional and global scale, including specific tools for the estimation of the recovery time of communities after a major earthquake. In this presentation, the recent developments in the GEM products will be demonstrated through several case studies.

This presentation will explore the interactions between climate change and seismic preparedness. The lecture will demonstrate that asset managers in earthquake-prone regions must consider the increased severity and frequency of climate hazards and integrate resilience measures for climate change with measures for seismic resilience. An example case study of San Francisco will be presented.

This talk summarises some recent work that has helped to better understand the relationship between Fourier and response spectra. The implications of this improved understanding include an appreciation of how site-specific adjustments can be made to ergodic models, improved representation of variance structures in ground-motion model development, and reconciliation of differences in estimated and implied stress drop variability, among other things. The talk aims to provide a summary of these implications and should be of interest to anyone involved with site-specific seismic hazard analyses.

This joint SECED/WES event includes two presentations. In the first presentation, William Algaard and William Whitby (both from Arup) will discuss the potential interactions between wind and seismic actions for tall building design. In the second presentation, John Rees (COWI (UK) Ltd.) will explore a case study of Arqiva’s tower at Brougher Mountain in Northern Ireland, which suffered excessive and unexpected vibrations following the installation of a new TV antenna.

Base isolation is used as a means of limiting the disturbance in buildings caused by groundborne vibration, such as that caused by busy roads or railways. This talk will review current practice in base-isolation design and highlight some of the challenges in moving towards a performance-based design approach for controlling groundborne vibration.

William R. Lettis has been selected as the Joyner Lecturer for 2017. This prestigious lecture will be held in April at the Annual Meeting of the Seismological Society of America in Denver, Colorado. We are fortunate that Dr Lettis has agreed to repeat the lecture at the ICE in London, on Wednesday 26th April. Please follow the link for further information. 

This evening lecture will provide a review of the main concepts for performing advanced aircraft impact analysis studies. The lecture will cover methods currently being adopted in the nuclear industry including modelling of the aircraft and the target structure with consideration of nonlinear effects, the use of experimental data for validation studies and performance-based design of nuclear structures.