Special Sessions are dedicated to important topics related to earthquake engineering and engineering seismology research and practice that complement the topics of the main sessions.
Of particular importance is the presentation and panel discussion on cutting-edge research activities and best practices in Europe and worldwide in earthquake engineering, risk assessment, and management.
Please submit your abstract to a special session here
(organized by Lanmin Wang, Sun Baitao, Jian-Min Zhang, Lu Xilin, K. Pitilakis, A. Pavese, G. Tsionis)
It will comprise presentations and a concluding round-table discussion. The presentations on the state-of-the-art and latest developments will be given by one speaker from Europe and one from China for each of the following topics:
- Lessons learnt from recent earthquakes, including disaster management
- Large research infrastructures: advances in experimental techniques, data sharing, remote access, efficient joint use of complementary infrastructures
- Risk assessment of critical infrastructures and the built environment
- Codes of practice for the future: design for resilience, existing structures, cultural heritage, etc.
- Experience from EU-China collaboration
(organized by International & Local Authorities)
(organized by P. Bisch, A. Correia)
The evolution of standard methods and procedures for the seismic design of structures is currently being implemented into a 2nd generation of Eurocode 8, which is of the utmost importance for the construction industry within earthquake-prone countries in Europe and worldwide. This thorough revision of the present European standards aims at developing the performance-based design concepts in current practice for new and existing structures and to improve the seismic action definition, site classification, analysis methods, assessment procedures, and the overall design, detailing and retrofit of buildings and bridges with commonly used building materials. Ease of use for the code user is also a major subject of concern. This special session will be composed of a number of invited talks, delivered by the individuals more deeply involved in the development of the 2nd generation of Eurocode 8, followed by a panel discussion with experts from CEN/TC250/SC8 on the seismic design and assessment of structures and bridges. Afterwards, these will interact with the general public in an open discussion on the choices adopted for the development of EC8.
(organized by P-Y. Bard, F. Hollender, O.J. Ktenidou)
Implementing a vertical array with several downhole sensors is rather expensive and only few such installations exist in Europe. One can cite: Euroseistest, CORSA and the more recently implemented ARGONET in Kefalonia in Greece; Montbonnot, the Cadarache site in South-East of France, several sites in Italy (Po plain) and Turkey (Istanbul), the Belle-Plaine array in Guadeloupe Island. Worldwide, other sites exist, including of course the famous Kik-Net network in Japan consisting of pairs of surface and down-hole accelerometers. The data provided by such arrays allow analysing a variety of phenomena and/or measuring a number of site parameters essential for earthquake engineering such as site amplification, wave propagation velocity, attenuation, non-linear behaviour, high-frequency response, etc. The special session will attempt to present most recent work on this kind on data, possibly coupled with other kinds of surface data (arrays, rotation sensors) or new kinds of in-hole measurements, and show the usefulness of such installations, especially what they can provide in addition to data only recorded at surface. Also welcome are all contributions or share existing databases.
(organized by G. Senfaute, C. Durouchoux)
SIGMA (SeIsmic Ground Motion Assessment )program achieved significant scientific progress presented in numerous scientific articles published in peer reviewed journals, a SIGMA special issue of bulletin of earthquake engineering is in progress and will be published in 2017. SIGMA brought together a very competent group of scientists, engineers and built an extremely important network between industry and research institutes. The objective of this session is to highlight the most important outcomes of SIGMA and the future challenges that need to be addressed. Practical examples of seismic hazard applications will be illustrated for different target regions. In the continuity of majors scientific efforts did by SIGMA a SIGMA-2 research program is in progress since 2017.
(organized by O.S. Bursi, F. Paolacci)
The tremendous impact of natural hazards, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, etc, which triggered technological accidents, referred to as natural-technological (NaTech) events, was demonstrated by: i) the recent Tohoku earthquake and the following Fukushima disaster in 2011; ii) the UK’s 2015 winter floods which topped £5bn, with thousands of families and businesses that faced financial problems because of inadequate or non-existent insurance. Therefore, today there is a stronger need than ever to grow researchers/practitioners that combine a robust academic foundation in reliability/vibration mitigation with practical experience, technological expertise with awareness of the socio-economical context and conviction to furthering research.
Hence, the objective of this Special Session is to offer an occasion for presentations in risk-based simulation/development of major-hazard process plants subjected to earthquakes, vibration reduction and community disaster resilience. The following topics are welcomed:
- Risk-based frameworks for major hazard facilities.
- Procedures for the definition and propagation of accidents chains in risk analysis.
- Quantitative risk analysis of process facilities against NaTech events.
- Concepts and design of metamaterial-based vibration shields.
- Quantifying resilience for facility/community performance during and after a seismic event.
- Setting concepts of recovery and functionality.
(organized by F. Wenzel, M. Koller)
Even high safety standards in the earthquake-resistant design of buildings cannot completely avoid fatalities and widespread damage particularly in strong events with ground motion much stronger than design ground motion. However, classical codes such as Eurocode 8 do not relate the design level to residual risk: does the residual risk become sufficiently small if ordinary structures are designed for return period of 500 to 1000 years? International Building Code (IBC-2012) has specified a collapse risk limit as a target in design, which also allows inferring fatality rates in code-compliant buildings. This enables comparisons with other perils our society is facing (e.g. road traffic accidents, airplane accidents, crime, diseases, etc.). However, as a large amount of fatalities and widespread damage can occur in an earthquake, the average annual individual fatality risk is not a sufficient measure and must be supplemented by societal loss measures that are the equivalent to PML curves for financial losses in the insurance industry. The session invites contributions to methodologies allowing to study the adequacy of current seismic safety levels, comparisons with other perils, and ways to address and control the residual risk.
(organized by K. Mackie, A. Kappos)
The focus of the special session is on non-conventional materials and systems utilized in concrete bridge columns and piers, rather than more typical cast-in-place solutions. For example, some recent developments have utilized high- and ultra-high performance concrete, shape memory alloys, high-strength steel, and various types and forms of reinforced polymers in the design of bridge columns strengthening of deficient columns. The systems include, i.a., hollow core and sandwich columns, precast and/or prestressed segmental columns with energy dissipating joints, special plastic hinge designs, precast substructure connections, and a variety of passive systems located on the piers. The special session will serve as a forum for sharing experimental, analytical, and numerical studies on these innovative materials and systems, as well as case studies of such systems being deployed in bridge construction around the world.
(organized by P. Clemente, G. Benzoni)
Seismic isolation and energy dissipation are ready for a wide application to adequately protect structures even against strong earthquakes all over the world. As a matter of fact, the number of applications, for both new constructions and retrofits, has increased remarkably in the last years. New anti-seismic technologies are already considered the best solution for structure for which a high level of safety is required, such as relevant and strategic buildings. The challenge for the next future is to consider seismic isolation and energy dissipation as usual anti-seismic technique also for residential buildings. In order to pursue that, the correct applications of such technologies should be guaranteed, by means of a good knowledge of the techniques and the design rule, but also by means of suitable controls. New devices and systems should also be considered.
(organized by D. Vamvatsikos, C. Adam)
Performance-based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) is an engineering paradigm wherein structures and non-structural components are designed to meet specific performance measures of importance to stakeholders, in contrast to traditional design, which meets prescriptive code provisions. To achieve this goal, advances are required in many fields, including hazard assessment, modeling, analysis, testing and uncertainty quantification. Still, when it comes to practice, several questions arise. In essence, we all have our models, methods and case-studies where things work as planned. But what happens in reality, when we try to apply our findings in an imperfect world? At the steep costs PBEE methods incur, how feasible is their use in practice and can they ever become a part of the seismic code?
(organized by E. Miranda, T. Sullivan, C.S. Oliveira, M. Lopes)
(organized by E. Dimitrakopoulos, M. Vassiliou, M. DeJong, M. Fragiadakis)
This special session will focus on recent advances in the dynamics and the seismic response of Rocking and Self-centering Structures. Research on self-centering and rocking structures is currently proliferating. This unconventional seismic design methodology relies on a change in effective stiffness combined with utilization of the rotational inertia of the structure, hence it is inherently “dynamic” and, in principle, “damage-free”. The survival of many monumental structures over the centuries testify to the seismic resilience of rocking systems.
(organized by A. Giaralis, A. Taflanidis)
The unforeseen high structural repair, downtime, and replacement costs incurred by recent seismic events in various countries (Haiti 2010, Christchurch 2011, Nepal 2015, Italy, 2016) dictate the need for achieving affordable (i.e., cost-effective) high-performance (i.e., minimum damage or damage-free) engineering structures. This need fuelled new recent interest in structural control applications that utilize viscous, regenerative, and inertial energy dissipation devices, following on from pertinent developments in mechanical (automotive/locomotive) engineering, as well as in the field of energy harvesting from large amplitude vibrations. One such example is the emergence of damping devices that leverage coupling the inerter, a two terminal device that develops a resisting force proportional to the relative acceleration of its terminals, with traditional vibration control solutions, such as the tuned-inerter-damper and the tuned-mass-damper-inerter. This setting creates the premise for this special session which aims to bring together researchers working on applications of inertial, viscous and regenerative damping devices as well as on the risk-based assessment of their performance.
SS14. Recent advances in earthquake protection technologies
(organized by H. Sucuoğlu, M. Calvi)
Seismic performance expectations from building structures are increasing. It is not possible to achieve a high seismic performance from buildings that are designed and constructed with conventional procedures after a strong earthquake. New technologies are required for achieving continued building services. Seismic isolation is the only technology adopted to practice so far. New technologies for seismic protection, basically capable of disipating seismic energy without structural damage are required in seismic countries.
(organized by M. Di Ludovico, C. Del Vecchio)
Recent seismic events outlined the importance of quantifying seismic losses and the amount of resourced needed for the reconstruction. The restoration of public or residential buildings in the aftermath of the seismic event may have a significant impact on national economies. This remarks the primary role of having accurate predictions of the repair/retrofit costs in order to plan the interventions or have reliable scenario studies. Nowadays number of reliable methodologies are available; nevertheless, they are commonly employ repair costs and fragility functions of components typical of the US standard. This make difficult their use for the European building stock.
(organized by A. Sextos, F. Cavalieri, S. Argyroudis)
Seismic risk assessment of engineering structures (e.g., buildings, bridges, etc.) has been one of the main focuses of the Earthquake Engineering research for the last decades. Only more recently, several research efforts have been devoted to the broader context of critical infrastructure, which are intended as super-systems comprising a number of systems (buildings, lifelines, critical facilities, etc.) and constitute the backbone and physical layer supporting the functioning of a modern society. However, current literature is still lacking exhaustive works investigating pending issues that are specifically related to spatially distributed and interconnected systems. Current gaps include topics such as the standardized tools for hazard and risk assessment of low probability-high consequence (LP-HC) events, and their systematic application to whole classes of CIs, assessment of the seismic resilience for interdependent systems, the treatment of directivity effects (near-fault) on spatially distributed systems, the propagation of uncertainties and the risk assessment via non-simulation methods, among others. The special session is expected to liaise with the FP7 "STREST" (www.strest-eu.org/) and H2020 "Exchange-Risk" (www.exchage-risk.eu) research projects.
(organized by Spyrakos, M. Corradi)
Conservation and preservation of religious cultural heritage masonry structures in earthquake-prone regions is a scientific field that timeless enjoys the interest of researchers; however, recent experience after significant earthquakes has shown that the earthquake protection of such cultural heritage structures has not yet been achieved to a satisfactory degree while recent advances in several scientific fields might serve as a means to mitigate seismic risk. The special session intends to cover evolutionary aspects, including advances in: condition assessment, surveying, detection of damage, measurement of mechanical properties, computational and experimental methods, failure criteria, monitoring, soil-structure interaction, assessment of the impact of geotechnical parameters, regional seismicity issues and intervention techniques.
(organized by S. Cattari, G. Magenes, P.B. Lourenço)
Several earthquakes highlighted the vulnerability of existing URM buildings. Often the evidences from the actual response they exhibited constitute the incentive not only for the progress at scientific level but also for the updating of Standards and promoting mitigation policies (as the case of last seismic events that hit the Centre of Italy). However the safety level of verifications and the effectiveness of preventive actions strongly depend on the reliability that the modelling and seismic assessment procedures are actually able to guarantee. Worldwide various are the approaches adopted for URM buildings not only at research level but also in the current practice of engineers. In fact, despite some common assessment procedures outlined by Standards, many are the different possible choices of analysts in interpreting the response of the structure under examination and in transferring them into the model. Thus it is recognized as the resulting outcomes can be very scattered. Moreover a huge number of open issues are continuously debated: the use of nonlinear analyses versus the linear ones, how facing the interaction between the in-plane and out-of-plane response, etc... Those are only some of the critical points that motivated the proposal of this session aimed to stimulate a discussion among researchers to set the consolidated knowledge and to measure against the open challenges on this topic.
(organized by E. Vintzileou, F. Da Porto, H. Varum, P. Ricci)
(organized by P. Negro, A. Marini)
The need to renovate the existing building stock is broadly acknowledged nowadays. Not only is the seismic risk reduction particularly urgent, as highlighted by the dramatic outcomes of past and recent earthquakes, but also specific measures must be undertaken to improve sustainability of the existing constructions, to reduce their enormous impact on the environment in terms of energy consumption and CO2 emissions, raw materials depletion, and waste generation.
(organized by V. Silva/GEM)
Despite the recent development in the characterization of seismic hazard, collection of exposure data and derivation of complex vulnerability models, a significant rise in the human and economic losses due to earthquakes has been observed. The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) is a collaborative effort that aims to provide organizations and individuals with models, datasets and state-of-the-art tools for transparent assessment of earthquake hazard and risk, which can support the development of risk reduction strategies. This special session presents the recent developments in the GEM tools, datasets and models, as well as several examples of how these resources are being used worldwide to assess earthquake hazard, vulnerability and risk. In particular, the status of the development of the Global Earthquake Risk Model (expected to be finalized by the end of 2018) will be presented, with a special focus on the earthquake risk assessment of European countries.
(organized by Krijgsman, J. White, I.E. Bal, E. Smyrou)
(organized by N. Makhoul, S. Argyroudis, Μ.P. Limongelli, J. Lee)
This Special Session deals with the development and application of software for the risk analysis of buildings, bridges, lifelines, critical infrastructure, etc., which are exposed to seismic and other natural hazards, and of the resulting economic and social losses, including shelter needs. Development and applications for multi-hazard assessment are encouraged as well as the ones that assess the relationship and interaction between hazards that occur simultaneously or the interaction between elements at risk. Open source software for seismic risk analysis was a precursor to similar developments for many different risks; therefore, the session, in addition to considering different natural hazards (such as hurricanes, tsunami, fires, landslides and floods, etc.), might consider extensions to the topics of climate change, man-made and technological risks, among others. Papers promoting resilience and sustainability are encouraged. The session aims to bring together researchers, software developers, practicioners and stakeholders (e.g. civil protection, insurance industry, lifeline owners etc.), who deal with loss estimation and risk management during natural calamities. During the session, recent advances in available software for risk analysis and loss estimation will be presented, and limitations and future needs will be discussed.
(organized by the Local Organising Committee)
