Lecture

Seismic Engineering Fundamentals

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In course

CIVIL-522: Seismic engineering

This course deals with the main aspects of seismic design and assessment of buildings including conceptual design. It covers different structural design and evaluation philosophies for new and existing reinforced concrete, steel and unreinforced masonry bu ...

Description

This lecture covers the fundamental concepts of seismic engineering, including typical failure modes of structures during earthquakes, design of new buildings with reinforced concrete walls, estimation of peak forces and displacements of structures under earthquakes, and evaluation of existing structures. It also explores the relationship between linear and nonlinear single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems, displacement ductility, and the comparison of elastic and inelastic SDOF systems. The lecture delves into the hysteresis response of SDOF systems with different yield forces, the impact of force limitations on seismic response, and the parametric study to determine the relationship between force reduction factor and ductility demand.

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Instructors (4)

Francesco Vanin

Dimitrios Lignos

Prof. Lignos joined the École Polytechnique Féderale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2016 from McGill University in Canada where he was a tenured Associate Professor and a William Dawson Scholar for Infrastructure Resilience. He holds a diploma (National Technical University of Athens, NTUA, 2003), M.S. (Stanford University, 2004) and Ph.D. (Stanford University, 2008). In addition, he was a post-doctoral scientist at Stanford University (2009) and in Kyoto University (2010). Prof. Lignos teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in seismic design, nonlinear behaviour of steel and composite structures as well as supplemental damping systems, Structural Stability, Nonlinear Analysis and Performance-based Earthquake Engineering. His awards for teaching, research and service in Civil Engineering include the 2011 Outstanding Teaching Award (Faculty of Engineering, McGill University), as well as the Outstanding reviewer (2012, 2013) award from ASCE, the 2013 State-of-the-Art in Civil Engineering Award by ASCE and the 2014 Christophe Pierre Award for Research Excellence - Early Career. Just recently, he received the 2019 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from ASCE for significant contributions in developing state of the art methods to simulate extreme limit states in steel structures.Prof. Lignos is a member of ASCE and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. He acts as an Associate Editor for Metal Structures and Seismic Effects of the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. He joined the Editorial Board of Earthquake Spectra and Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics International journals. He serves as an acting member of the CEN/TC 250/SC 8/WG 2 and has been selected as a member of the Project Team (PT2) for the Eurocode 8-Part 1 Current Revisions for Steel and Composite Structures. He is also a member of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) S16 technical committee for Steel Structures. Prof. Lignos is involved as a NEHRP consultant in numerous research-to-practice projects related to the behaviour and nonlinear modelling and analysis of structures applicable to the engineering practice through the Applied Technology Council (ATC). Detailed Curriculum Vitae (last update September 2018)

Savvas Saloustros

Education PhD | Construction Engineering 2017 – 2017 UPC-BarcelonaTech, Spain MSc | Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions (SAHC) 2013 – 2013 University of Padova, Italy & UPC-BarcelonaTech, Spain Diploma | Civil Engineering 2012 – 2012 National Technical University of Athens, Greece Professionals experiences Co-founder & Board Member 2019–2019 FENECStructural Engineer 2019–2019 Windmill Structural Constultants, Barcel

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Related concepts (21)

Seismic analysis

Seismic analysis is a subset of structural analysis and is the calculation of the response of a building (or nonbuilding) structure to earthquakes. It is part of the process of structural design, earthquake engineering or structural assessment and retrofit (see structural engineering) in regions where earthquakes are prevalent. As seen in the figure, a building has the potential to 'wave' back and forth during an earthquake (or even a severe wind storm). This is called the 'fundamental mode', and is the lowest frequency of building response.

Structural engineering

Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and muscles' that create the form and shape of human-made structures. Structural engineers also must understand and calculate the stability, strength, rigidity and earthquake-susceptibility of built structures for buildings and nonbuilding structures. The structural designs are integrated with those of other designers such as architects and building services engineer and often supervise the construction of projects by contractors on site.

Earthquake

An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those that are so weak that they cannot be felt, to those violent enough to propel objects and people into the air, damage critical infrastructure, and wreak destruction across entire cities. The seismic activity of an area is the frequency, type, and size of earthquakes experienced over a particular time.

Earthquake engineering

Earthquake engineering is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that designs and analyzes structures, such as buildings and bridges, with earthquakes in mind. Its overall goal is to make such structures more resistant to earthquakes. An earthquake (or seismic) engineer aims to construct structures that will not be damaged in minor shaking and will avoid serious damage or collapse in a major earthquake. A properly engineered structure does not necessarily have to be extremely strong or expensive.

Seismic retrofit

Seismic retrofitting is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes. With better understanding of seismic demand on structures and with our recent experiences with large earthquakes near urban centers, the need of seismic retrofitting is well acknowledged. Prior to the introduction of modern seismic codes in the late 1960s for developed countries (US, Japan etc.) and late 1970s for many other parts of the world (Turkey, China etc.

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