Compdyn 2009

Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering Design

Pseudo-static analysis is still the most-used method to assess the stability of geotechnical systems that are exposed to earthquake forces. However, this method does not provide any information about the deformations and permanent displacements induced by seismic activity. Moreover, it is questionable to use this approach when geotechnical systems are affected by frequent and rare seismic events. Incidentally, the peak ground acceleration has increased from 0.2-0.3 g in the seventies to the current value of 0.6-0.8 g. Therefore, a shift from the pseudo-static approach to performance-based analysis is needed. Over the past five years considerable progress has been made in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering Design (EGED). The most recent advances are presented in this book in 6 parts. The evaluation of the site amplification is covered in Part I of the book. In Part II the evaluation of the soil foundation stability against natural slope failure and liquefaction is treated. In the following 3 Parts of the book the EGED for different geotechnical systems is presented as follows: the design of levees and dams including natural slopes in Part III; the design of foundations and soil structure interaction analysis in Part IV; underground structures in Part V. Finally in Part VI, new topics like the design of reinforced earth retaining walls and landfills are covered.

COMPDYN 2009

Seismic Design and Assessment of Bridges

The book focuses on the use of inelastic analysis methods for the seismic assessment and design of bridges, for which the work carried out so far, albeit interesting and useful, is nevertheless clearly less than that for buildings. Although some valuable literature on the subject is currently available, the most advanced inelastic analysis methods that emerged during the last decade are currently found only in the specialised research-oriented literature, such as technical journals and conference proceedings. Hence the key objective of this book is two-fold, first to present all important methods belonging to the aforementioned category in a uniform and sufficient for their understanding and implementation length, and to provide also a critical perspective on them by including selected case-studies wherein more than one methods are applied to a specific bridge and by offering some critical comments on the limitations of the individual methods and on their relative efficiency. The book should be a valuable tool for both researchers and practicing engineers dealing with seismic design and assessment of bridges, by both making the methods and the analytical tools available for their implementation, and by assisting them to select the method that best suits the individual bridge projects that each engineer and/or researcher faces.