Assisi, 2-3-4-5 October 2001
MAIN ORGANIZERS:
Gruppo
di Lavoro sull’Isolamento Sismico (GLIS)
dell’Associazione
Nazionale Italiana di Ingegneria Sismica (ANIDIS)
Technical
Group 5 on Seismic Isolation of Structures of the European Association for
Earthquake Engineering (EAEE)
With
The Patronage Of Regione Dell’umbria
Sponsored
by Enea, Acedis, Banca Dell’umbria, Impresa Generale Di Restauro Pouchain, Istituto Edilizia Residenziale Pubblica Di Perugia
1. BACKGROUND
Nowadays,
most innovative techniques for the passive control of seismic vibrations - namely
base seismic isolation (BSI), passive energy dissipation (PED) and provisional
hydraulic coupling (HC) by means of shock transmitters - are considered to be
already fully mature technologies of providing a mitigation of seismic damage
for civil structures and equipment and have proven to be reliable and
cost-effective for many structures such as bridges and viaducts, civil
buildings, cultural heritage and critical facilities. With regard to the PED
systems, several types of devices were recently developed and optimized, like
viscous, elastic-plastic, viscoelastic and electromagnetic systems, as well as
systems using shape memory alloys (SMA) and other smart materials.
There
are already approximately two thousands applications of BSI, PED and HC in various
countries, which concern not only new constructions but also several retrofits
of existing important structures, including cultural heritage, as initially
judged necessary especially after the Loma Prieta (1989), Northridge (1994) and
Kobe (1995) earthquakes and more recently, after those which struck Italy in
1997-98 and Greece, Taiwan, Turkey, Central America and India in the last two
years.
It
is worthwhile stressing that the innovative anti-seismic techniques are of
great interest not only for highly seismic countries, but also for areas
characterized by low or moderate seismicity.
The
design and behavior experience concerning the large civil buildings and bridges
and viaducts provided with base BSI, PED and HC (for which the applications of
such innovative anti-seismic systems are the most numerous) is extremely
important for widely extending the use of these techniques to other extremely
important application fields, like the cultural heritage, regular apartment
buildings and industrial facilities, including the nuclear plants and other
high risk facilities (e.g. some chemical plants). In fact, the applications in these fields are not very numerous
yet, although some applications to high risk facilities are quite important and
several new projects are in a rather advanced development stage.
In
addition, the progress of floor seismic isolation and that of active, hybrid
and especially, semi-active vibration control techniques, for which important
projects are now in progress in various countries, has already led to some
promising results, not only for the control of wind-induced vibrations, but
also for the seismic protection.
The
only remarkable still remaining problems for the innovative passive
anti-seismic techniques concern the design rules for structures provided with
such systems. In fact, although design rules or guidelines are now available in
most countries, they are still different in the different countries, frequently
still penalize the use of the innovative anti-seismic systems with respect to
the conventional design and their application still requires heavy approval
processes. For the non-passive control systems the problems are even worse: in
fact, these techniques are not considered by design rules.
International
cooperation and detailed exchange of information and experience in both civil
field (including cultural heritage) and the industrial (nuclear and
non-nuclear) field are extremely important for the correct development and
application of all the above-mentioned innovative techniques. To this aim, at
San Francisco in 1989, Italian, Japanese and US experts started organizing an
International Seminar on the innovative anti-seismic techniques. This first
Seminar mainly dealt with BSI of the nuclear reactors. Since then, this Seminar
has been held every two years, at Nara (Japan) in 1991, Capri (Italy) in 1993,
Santiago (Chile) in 1995, Taormina (Italy) in 1997 and Cheju (Korea) in 1999.
The Seminar objectives were gradually extended from the nuclear reactors to the
other types of structures and from BSI to the other vibration control
techniques. More and more experts from more and more countries and
International Institutions (the European Commission and the International
Atomic Energy Agency) joined the International Organizing Committee. Until the
last event of Cheju, the Seminar was organized in conjunction with the
International Conferences on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology
(SMiRT), in the framework of its Post-Conference events.
This
7th International Seminar, on the contrary, as recommended at Cheju,
has been organized as an independent event, based on the great interest in
holding it in an area like Umbria Region, which suffered severe earthquake
damages in 1997 and where new important applications of the innovative anti-seismic
techniques were recently completed or are in progress, and especially at site
like Assisi, where the restoration of the worldwide famous “Basilica Superiore
di San Francesco” was seismically retrofitted and restored by making use, for
the first time in the world, of SMA devices (it is well known that the 1997
earthquake had severely damaged the Basilica, including famous frescos of
Cimabue and Giotto).
In
addition, the Seminar will be held in the last three and a half days of the
week preceding that of the 5th World Congress on Joints, Bearings
and Seismic Systems for Concrete Structures, which will take place in Rome on
October 7 to 11, 2001.
Similar
to the two previous events held in Italy, this 7th Seminar is being
organized by the Italian Working Group on Seismic Isolation (GLIS) of the
Italian National Association for Earthquake Engineering (ANIDIS) through the
sponsorship and patronage of the Italian Agency for New Technology, Energy and
the Environment (ENEA), the Government of Umbria Region and other Partners. For
the organization of this Seminar, GLIS has been supported by the Task Group 5
on Seismic Isolation of Structures (TG5) of the European Association for
Earthquake Engineering (EAEE). Co-organizers are at present ENEA, the European and
International Associations for the Control of Structures (EACS and
IASC), the Joint Research Center at Ispra (JRC) of the European
Commission (EC), the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Ferrara and
that of Engineering of the University of Perugia, the Orders of Architects and
Engineers of Perugia and Terni Provinces (those located in Umbria) and the
Italian National Seismic Survey (SSN), together with other Institutions from
several countries (Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Czech
Republic, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New
Zealand, P.R. China, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and
the USA).
The aim of
the Seminar is the further strengthening of already established good basis for
international collaboration for research, transfer of technology and
information, and implementation in practice of base seismic isolation, passive
energy dissipation, hydraulic coupling and shape memory alloys, as well as
dissemination of information among the population in seismic prone countries to
promote implementation of base isolation in retrofitting or new construction of
housing.
2. SCOPE
The
7th Seminar is being organized based on the increasing success of
the previous ones and according to the recommendations made by participants in
the Closing Panel of the last Seminar at Cheju, Korea, 1999. It will provide
again an opportunity for the exchange of updated, detailed information
concerning the state-of-the-art on the development and applications of the
previously mentioned innovative anti-seismic techniques.
Similar
to the previous events, topics covered by the Assisi Seminar will be base and
floor isolation, passive energy dissipation and provisional hydraulic coupling.
In addition, as at Cheju, the development and applications of active,
semi-active and hybrid control of seismic and non-seismic vibrations and the
critical issues concerning the application of innovative anti-seismic
techniques in low and moderate seismic areas will be dealt with.
With
regard to the passive control techniques, particular attention will be devoted
to the following issues, whose importance was identified at Cheju:
· Extension
of retrofit using the innovative anti-seismic techniques;
· Improvement
of studies concerning innovative systems applicable to cultural heritage;
· Improvement
of knowledge and development of systems for vertical isolation;
· Promotion
of more applications to hospitals and chemical plants and components;
· Wide
extension of application from strategic to apartment buildings;
· Performance
of adequate monitoring;
· Improvement
of knowledge on seismic input, in particular for near-field earthquakes (how
correct is this point was confirmed later by the 1999 earthquake in Turkey);
· Improvement of studies
concerning some reliability and uncertainty issues which have not been yet
fully analyzed (including scale effects for qualification tests, the behavior
of the anti-seismic devices at earthquake levels exceeding the design value and
failure modes, at extremely violent beyond design earthquakes, of structures
provided with the anti-seismic systems);
· Consideration
of other sources of vibrations which may damage or weaken structures, for
instance, traffic.
· Comparison
of design rules and guidelines applicable in the different countries;
· Issues
related to the applications in the low and moderate seismicity areas.
To
this aim, differently from previous seminars, after those containing general
lectures on state-of-the-art on application and R&D, specific Oral Sessions
will be devoted to lectures on the different kinds of structures of interest
for application of the innovative anti-seismic techniques (namely: bridges and
viaducts; strategic and important buildings such as hospitals emergency
management centers and schools; regular apartment buildings; cultural heritage;
and high risk nuclear and chemical plants). The main new ongoing R&D
projects will also be presented in the Oral Sessions, while more specific but
important topics concerning R&D and single applications will be presented
in the Poster Session. As suggested at Cheju, invited lectures and contributed
papers on applications shall containing sufficiently detailed reference to
seismic input, the codes used and problems faced in using them, as well as cost
evaluations.
In
addition, the proposal made at Cheju, to develop international design
guidelines for structures provided with the innovative anti-seismic systems
(which also explain such systems correctly and leave official codes out of
consideration) will be further discussed and again as suggested at Cheju, a volume
collecting the English translations of design rules and guidelines made
available to the organizers will be distributed to the participants in the
Seminar as a draft and may be published after some months.
Finally, it is worthwhile stressing that the
collaborations established for the organization of the Seminar with the
Regional Government of Umbria and the local Orders of Architects should ensure
the larger participation of governmental officials and designers, with respect
to previous seminars, which had been augured at Cheju
3. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE PROGRAM
The
Seminar will last three and a half days, starting in the afternoon of Tuesday,
October 2, 2001, at 3:30 p.m.
Contacts
are in advanced progress with the IAEA to check the feasibility of organizing
the Seminar in conjunction with the Final Meeting of the Research Coordinated
Program (CRP) of the IAEA on “Intercomparison of Analysis Methods for Predicting
the Behaviour of Seismically Isolated Nuclear Structures”. In such a meeting
the Final Report of such a CRP, as prepared by its Technical Secretary, should
be approved for publication by the Representatives of the participating
countries, after being examined and if necessary, updated based on the results
of the Seminar. The aforesaid meeting, restricted to the Representatives of the
countries participating in the CRP,
should be held in the morning on Saturday, October 6, 2001.
At
any rate, a Meeting of Task Group 5 of the EAEE will take place in such
a day, which will be opened to all European participants who are interested to
join the Task Group and non-European observers, as well. In addition, a Meeting
of Subcommittee (SC) 1 of Technical Committee (TC) 167 on “Anti-Seismic Devices” of the European Committee for
Standardization (CEN) will take place in the morning of October 2, 2001;
this meeting will be restricted to the members of CEN TC 167 /SC 1.
The
Seminar consists of Oral Sessions, Poster Presentations and the
International Exhibition. It should be followed by Technical Visits:
in particular, the feasibility of visits to the ”Basilica Superiore di San
Francesco in Assisi” on Saturday, October 6, 2001, is been checked by the
organizers.
The Oral Program will consist
of invited lectures presented or co-authored by experts from the countries and
international Institutions that are the most involved in the development and
applications of the new techniques, namely: Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Chile,
Chinese Taipei, the EC, EACS, France, Germany, Greece, IAEA,
IASC, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, the P. R. China, the
Russian Federation, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the USA. As
detailed in Sect. 2, presented in such lectures will be the state-of-the-art of
applications and designs in both the civil and the industrial fields, overviews
on the ongoing R&D projects and future programs, and observations (if any)
of behaviors of structures provided with the innovative systems in actual
earthquakes occurred after the last Seminar at Cheju, Korea in 1999, as well as
the progress in the development of codes and standards, design rules, seismic
input for structures, and cost evaluation. New development of active,
semi-active and hybrid control techniques for seismic and non-seismic
vibrations and new applications of such techniques, as well as key issues in
the application of innovative anti-seismic techniques in low and moderate
seismic regions will also be addressed.
The last part of the Oral Program
will be a Closing Panel, followed by Closing Remarks, where experts from the
most seismic areas and international Institutions will draw conclusions based
on the results of the Seminar works and will make recommendations for future
activities, including whether the Seminar shall continue in 2003, and if yes,
whether connected to the SMiRT Conference to be held at Prague or not, and
where it may be organized: among others, the possibility of holding the 2003 8th
Seminar in Vienna (Austria) or Yeravan (Armenia) will be considered. To this
aim, it is noted that the American University of Armenia already officially
confirmed its proposal to organize the 8th Seminar in Yeravan in
2003.
In the Closing Panel, decisions will
also be taken on the foundation and objectives of the “International
Association of Seismic Isolation”, which had been recommended in previous
Seminars: this Association may group National Associations or groups of them
like the Japanese JSSI, the “Chinese
Committee of Seismic Control of Structures”, the Italian GLIS,
etc.
Poster
Presentations and the International Exhibition, organized in parallel to the
Oral Sessions, will last the whole Seminar duration. Poster Presentations will
concern invited and selected contributed
technical papers dealing with specific items of particular interest for the
Seminar, such as new R&D on specific topics and single important
applications. Poster presentations of design rules applicable in the single
countries, which are part of the documents to be published in the already
mentioned volume, are also particularly welcome, in order to allow for a first
discussion on this topic among the participants. In the International
Exhibition displayed will be the
general activities and products of research centers, industrial companies
and other Institutions. The International Exhibition will be opened to the
public, during at least one day.
4. PROCEEDINGS, ABSTRACT
VOLUME, VOLUME ON DESIGN RULES
All
invited lectures presented in the Oral Sessions and invited or contributed
papers presented as Posters (those contributed after acceptance of the
International Technical-Scientific Committee) will be published in the Seminar
Proceedings (whether on printed volumes or compact disk - CD -
will be decided by the organizers at a later date), with the exception of the
English translations of design guidelines, which will be collected in a
specific volume, to be published after the Seminar, if all contributors agree
and if a suitable editor is identified.
All lectures and papers and the related abstracts
shall be written in English and shall be made available to the Seminar
Technical Secretariat as electronic files, as explained in Sect.
5. Proceedings
will be distributed to the participants some months after the Seminar, while an
Abstract Volume will be distributed at the Seminar.
5. DEADLINES FOR SUBMITTING EXTENDED ABSTRACTS AND
FULL MANUSCRIPTS
All
authors of both lectures for the Oral Sessions and papers for the Poster
Session are requested to submit EXTENDED
ABSTRACTS (including titles of
lectures or papers, authors and their affiliations and addresses and
approximately 1 page text, typed according to required format, as
electronic files, with Format “.doc” (WORD), to the Seminar
Technical Secretary (Dr. M. Forni, mailto:forni@bologna.enea.it)
within May 15, 2001, in order to allow
the International Technical-Scientific Committee to select the contributed
papers to be presented in the Poster Session and the organizers to print the
Abstract Volume before the Seminar. Acceptance of contributed papers for the
Poster Session will be notified to their main authors by June 15, 2001.
All
authors of both lectures for the Oral Sessions and papers for the Poster
Session are also requested to submit the FULL
MANUSCRIPTS (including the contributions for the volume on
design rules), again as electronic files, possibly with Format “.pdf”
(ADOBE-ACROBAT), otherwise with Format “.doc” (WORD), to the Seminar
Technical Secretary (Dr. M. Forni, by e-mail to mailto:forni@bologna.enea.it
or by mail on magnetic support) within August 31,
2001, so that photocopies of full paper manuscripts can be made and
distributed to the participants at the Seminar. All lectures and papers for the Poster Session and the volume on design
guidelines shall be typed again according
to required format.
6. OFFICIAL LANGUAGE AND SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION
The
Seminar official language will be English (all lectures shall be written and
presented in English). However, simultaneous translation into Italian and when necessary
(for welcome addresses, discussion, etc.), from Italian into English, will be
available.
7. SEMINAR ANNOUNCEMENTS
The
Second Seminar Announcement, containing information on the updated technical
program, will be distributed in September 2001. This First Announcement is available on Internet
at the GLIS address http://192.107.65.2/glis; it will be periodically modified to account for the most updated
information, by also including the scheduled detailed Seminar Program as soon
as this is sufficiently assessed and after June 15, the list of papers to be
presented in the Poster Session.
A.Martelli
Seminar Chairman
Phone: +39-051-6098468
Fax: +39-051-6098544 / 6098639
E-mail: mailto:martelli@bologna.enea.it