The official event of Anti-Seismic Systems International Society (ASSISi)

SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT

1. MAIN ORGANIZER, CO-ORGANIZERS AND SPONSORS

MAIN ORGANIZER

American University of Armenia (AUA)

MAIN CO-ORGANIZERS

Anti-Seismic Systems International Society (ASSISi)

Armenian Association for Earthquake Engineering (AAEE)

Task Group 5 on Seismic Isolation of Structures (TG5) of the European Association for Earthquake Engineering (EAEE)

ALREADY CONFIRMED SPONSORS

• Vanadzor construction company “KANAKA” OJSC – Armenia
• Yerevan Factory of Rubber Technical Articles (YFRTA) – Armenia

• Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente (ENEA)  – Italy
• Gruppo di Lavoro Isolamento Sismico (GLIS) – Italy 
• MAURER SÖHNE - Germany
• Bridgestone Corporation – Japan
• ACEDIS – Italy

OTHER CO-ORGANIZERS

• University of California at Berkeley – USA
• European Association for Earthquake Engineering (EAEE)
• Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente (ENEA) – Italy
• Gruppo di Lavoro Isolamento Sismico (GLIS) of the Italian National Association for Earthquake Engineering – Italy
• International and European Associations for the Control of Structures (IASC & EACS)
• Joint Research Center at Ispra (JRC) of the European Commission (EC)

• University of Applied Sciences at Vienna – Austria
• Université Libre de Bruxelles – Belgium
• University of Chile, Santiago – Chile
• National Taiwan University – Chinese Taipei
• SEMT, CEA-CE Saclay – France

• Maurer Söhne – Germany
• University of Patras – Greece

• University of Thessaloniki – Greece

• Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) – India
• International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES) – Iran
• ALGA, Milan – Italy
• Associazione Costruttori Italiani di Vincolo Strutturale (ACEDIS) – Italy

• Department of Earth Sciences, University of Trieste – Italy
• FIP Industriale, Selvazzano (PD) – Italy
• Interdepartmental Unit Natural Risks at APAT – Italy

• TIS SpA-Rome – Italy
• University of Basilicata – Italy
• University of Roma "LA SAPIENZA" – Italy
• Institute of Industrial Science of Tokyo University – Japan
• Japan Panel on Structural Response Control – Japan
• Tokyo Institute of Technology – Japan
• Korea Panel on Structural Control and Monitoring, Korea Earthquake Engineering Research Center (KEERC) & Seoul National University – Korea
• National University of Mexico – Mexico
• Robinson Seismic Limited – New Zealand
• Guangzhou University – P. R. China

• Center of Capital Construction & Ost-Seism – Russia
• Earthquake Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Construction  (EERC) – Russia

• PRINCIPIA – Spain
• Technical University of Catalonia at Barcellona – Spain
• Istanbul Kultur University – Turkey
• Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul – Turkey
• Federal Highway Administration – USA

• Forell / Elsesser, San Francisco, California – USA

• University of California at San Diego – USA

2. BACKGROUND

Seismic isolation, energy dissipation and active vibration control of structures are fully mature technologies of providing 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 such systems, several types of devices were recently developed and optimized, including systems with the use of shape memory alloys and other smart materials.

There are already more than two thousands applications of anti-seismic systems in various countries, which concern not only new constructions but also several retrofits of existing important structures, including cultural heritage, as well as civil buildings and critical facilities as initially judged necessary especially after recent strong earthquakes in different countries. It is worthwhile stressing that the innovative anti-seismic techniques are of great interest not only for countries with high seismic hazard, but also for areas characterized by low or moderate seismicity.

The design and behavior experience concerning the large civil buildings, bridges and viaducts, for which the applications of such innovative anti-seismic systems are the most numerous, is extremely important for extending the use of these techniques to other application fields, like the cultural heritage, regular apartment buildings and industrial facilities. Also there is still a problem for the innovative passive anti-seismic techniques concerning the design rules for structures provided with such systems. In this regard the volume published after the 7^th Seminar held at Assisi in 2001 and dedicated to design rules or guidelines developed for structures with anti-seismic systems in the different countries, can be considered as a significant contribution.

International cooperation and detailed exchange of information and experience in both civil (including cultural heritage) and the industrial fields 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 base isolation 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, Cheju (Korea) in 1999, and Assisi (Italy) in 2001. The Seminar objectives were gradually extended from the nuclear reactors to the other types of structures and from base seismic isolation to the other vibration control techniques. Until the Seminar in Cheju, all Seminars were organized in conjunction with the International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT), in the framework of its Post-Conference events. But the last Seminar in Assisi for the first time was organized as an independent event. As an important step forward, the establishment of the Anti-Seismic Systems International Society (ASSISi) at the Seminar in Assisi should be especially emphasized. Also for the first time a decision was made to hold the next, 8^th Seminar in a developing country, in Armenia, Yerevan.

Armenia has been a pioneer among developing countries in the use of seismic isolation. Holding the Seminar in Armenia will thus help furthering innovative technologies in this country, as well as in its neighboring countries. Armenia is the only country among the developing countries where seismic isolation is highly developed, especially for the ordinary (apartment) buildings. Here, for the first time in the world, retrofitting of existing buildings was performed by base and roof isolations without interruption of the use of the apartment buildings. Moreover, the ratio of isolated buildings per capita in Armenia is the highest in the world. All former Seminars were mainly held in regions, which were hardly accessible by scientists from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – Republics of the former Soviet Union. From this point of view Armenia would be the place where many scientists from CIS countries could come easily. Because of that, one of the benefits would also be that the seismic isolation would find new markets.

Having in mind that the Seminars on seismic isolation and other seismic vibration control systems have a worldwide meaning and the desire to make their name shorter and more precise, it was agreed to make some changes in their traditional name and call the event in Yerevan “The 8^th World Seminar on Seismic Isolation, Energy Dissipation and Active Vibration Control of Structures”.

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 of anti-seismic systems in practice, as well as dissemination of information among the population, public officials, decision makers in construction policy and designers in seismic prone countries to promote implementation of the innovative anti-seismic techniques in retrofitting or new construction of housing, structures of cultural heritage, industrial and critical facilities.

3. SCOPE

The 8^th World Seminar will again provide an opportunity for the exchange of updated, detailed information concerning the state-of-the-art on the development and applications of the innovative anti-seismic techniques.

Similar to the previous events, topics covered by the Yerevan Seminar are base and floor isolation, passive energy dissipation, provisional hydraulic coupling and systems formed by shape memory alloys devices, as well as 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. In addition, topics on seismic input and codes for seismic isolation will be covered, as recommended at the Seminar in Assisi.

With regard to the passive control techniques, the following issues, the importance of which had been identified at Cheju and Assisi, will be considered:

-        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 schools, 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;

-        Improvement of studies concerning some reliability and uncertainty issues which had 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;

-        Economic and financial aspects;

-        Particular issues in further implementation of anti-seismic systems in developing countries.

To this aim, in the same way as was organized in Assisi, after Sessions 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, chemical and other industrial 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.

4. GENERAL PROGRAM

The Seminar will consist of Oral Sessions, Poster Presentations, International Exhibition, and Technical Visits to retrofitted and newly constructed apartment and school buildings, and to the Museum, dedicated to the 1988 Spitak Earthquake.

The Oral Sessions 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, the EC, EACS, France, Germany, Greece, IAEA, IASC, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, the P. R. China, the Russian Federation, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the USA. Presented in such lectures are 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 of behaviors of structures provided with the innovative systems in actual earthquakes occurred after the last Seminar at Assisi, 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 are also 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 representatives of low moderate seismicity areas and International Institutions will draw conclusions based on the results of the Seminar works and make recommendations for future activities and where the next seminar has to be organized.

Poster Presentations and the International Exhibition will be organized in parallel to the Oral Sessions and will last for the whole Seminar duration. Each paper shall be illustrated at the Poster Session by only 1 poster, with format A0, having the longer side in the vertical direction, namely base = 841 mm and height =1189 mm.

The International Exhibition will be held at the AUA. According to Form D (which also contains information on booth sizes and payment procedures) the cost for the participation of research centers, industrial companies, etc., is at least 3,000 USD per booth and at least 3,500 USD per booth to be considered as a sponsor of the Seminar. These amounts have to be paid by non-Armenian participants as contributions to the Seminar. Those who are interested in the exhibition are advised to directly contact the Seminar Responsible for External Relations (Ms. G. Voskanyan, e-mail: gvoskany@aua.am). Acceptance of reservation requests for exhibition booths is ensured until August 31, 2003, on a first-come, first-served basis, compatibly with the available room. In each booth, in addition to objects and documentation, exhibitors may display up to 4 posters. Similar to those used in the Poster Session, these shall have format A0, with the longer side in the vertical direction, namely base = 841 mm and height = 1189 mm.

One day, namely October 8, 2003 will be devoted to Technical Visits to the four cities: Gyumri, Vanadzor, Spitak and Yerevan. Participants will be acquainted with retrofitted and newly constructed apartment and school buildings. Also participants will visit the Museum in the city of Spitak, dedicated to the 1988 Spitak Earthquake. Lunch and dinner will be offered to participants during Technical Visits on behalf of organizers. 

5. PROCEEDINGS, EXTENDED ABSTRACT VOLUME

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 on printed volumes.

All lectures and papers, similar to the related abstracts, shall be written in English and shall be made available to the Seminar Technical Secretariat as electronic files. Photocopies of the available full manuscripts and Abstract Volume will be distributed to the participants at the Seminar Registration Desk. Proceedings will be distributed to the participants, as printed volumes or CD-ROMs, some months after the Seminar. Authors will be asked to provide their full text manuscripts to the Seminar Secretariat sufficiently in advance as to allow the organizers to photocopy them on time for distribution to the participants; those who will not provide their manuscripts on time shall send or carry the number of copies which will be requested by the organizers.  

            The FORMAT FOR PREPARATION OF THE FULL TEXT MANUSCRIPTS will be distributed separately and will be available soon on Internet at AUA homepage (http://www.aua.am). The preferred method of the Manuscripts submission is via e-mail as an attachment to the attention of Ms. Kristina Avanesova (kavaneso@aua.am), or Ms. Gayane Voskanyan (gvoskany@aua.am), or Mrs. Almast Karapetyan (almast@aua.am). Alternatively Manuscripts can be submitted as five hard copies plus a single electronic version in MS Word 97 format on a diskette. The diskette and hard copies should be mailed to the following address: 40 Marshal Baghramian St., Yerevan, 375019, Armenia to the attention of Dr. Mikayel Melkumyan. The deadline for submission of the full text Manuscripts is June 30, 2003.  

6. OFFICIAL LANGUAGE AND SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION

The Seminar official language is English. However, simultaneous translation into Armenian and when necessary (for welcome addresses, discussion, etc.), from Armenian into English will be available. All lectures and papers have to be written in English.

7. SEMINAR ANNOUNCEMENTS

The First Announcement has already been distributed and is available on Internet at AUA homepage (http://www.aua.am). The Second Announcements of the Seminar, which contains updated information, will be available soon on Internet at AUA homepage (http://www.aua.am) as well. The Final Announcement, including detailed Seminar Program, will be distributed at the Seminar Registration Desk and also will be sent by e-mail to those asking for it.

8. LOCATION OF THE SEMINAR AND EXHIBITION

The Seminar and International Exhibition will take place at the American University of Armenia (40 Marshal Baghramian st., 375019, Yerevan, Armenia).

As an institution of higher learning, the American University of Armenia provides teaching, research, and service programs that prepare students to address the needs of Armenia and the surrounding region for sustainable development, in a setting that values and develops academic excellence, free inquiry, scholarship, leadership, and service to society.

We invite you to visit Armenia – a country that offers a fascinating insight into the cultural and historical interaction of East and West. It is a land of sightseeing and monuments. It is a country of great rewards for the one who is both ambitious and challenging. Armenia is often described as an outdoor museum. There are over 4000 historical monuments that have preserved here. No matter, which of our itineraries you choose, it is certain that you will be impressed by spectacular pagan temples and very old Christian churches and monasteries that are scattered all around this beautiful land of mountain peaks and fertile valleys, crystal-clear lakes and turbulent rivers. All these natural characteristics have dictated the location of ancient towns and caravan routes as well as fortresses, bridges and aqueducts on the Great Silk Road.

Armenians are of Indo-European origin and their statehood goes back to the powerful Urartu Kingdom of the 9^th Century BC. Their present day alphabet that consists of 39 letters dates back to the year of 404. They are very friendly and hospitable as well as hard-working and intelligent people.

Armenian cooking is exciting and Armenian wines and brandies are legendary – Winston Churchill drank Armenian brandy regularly! You don’t have to be an Armenian to be thrilled by the sight of Mount Ararat, sitting alone on the plains like an exiled monarch just outside the border.

YEREVAN AND ITS ENVIRONS

Armenia’s capital-city, Yerevan, is as old as Babylon and older than Rome and Athens. It was developed on the site of the ancient fortress of Erebuni, built in 782 BC. The years have phonetically changed the name into Erevouni, then Erevan and finally – Yerevan. An ancient legend links the name of the capital with Noah and the Big Flood…

Once a small provincial town with 30,000 people and almost no industry, Yerevan was grown into a city with a population of 1.5 million. The present-day capital is Armenia’s political, administrative, commercial and financial, as well as cultural and educational center. It houses more than 20 state and private universities and a great number of schools and colleges as well as ten large libraries. Numerous theatres and concert-halls, an opera and ballet theatre and more than thirty museums and art galleries provide entertainment and endless opportunity for learning.

9. HOTEL RESERVATIONS

The Information on hotel reservations has already been distributed and will be available soon on Internet at AUA homepage (http://www.aua.am). After making hotel reservation the participants are requested to immediately fill the attached Form C (FINAL CONFIRMATION OF HOTEL RESERVATION) and to send it by fax or e-mail to the attention of Mrs. A. Karapetyan as indicated in the Form.

10. VISA ARRANGEMENT

The Organizing Committee of the 8^th World Seminar and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia welcome you to Armenia and invite you to apply for and receive a visa electronically, on-line.

An e-Visa is equivalent to a conventional visa, but no paper is inserted in your passport and there is no need for you to visit an Armenian diplomatic mission to submit an application. Applications for e-Visas can be submitted on-line, verified on-line, and in most cases, e-Visas will be approved and issued on-line within two business days. This e-Visa is good for travelers arriving by air at Yerevan Zvartnots International Airport only.

            In order to apply for and receive an e-Visa the 8^th World Seminar participants should visit the http://www.armeniaforeignministry.com/ site and simply follow up the instructions.

If you encounter any difficulties or problems in receiving e-Visa on-line, please immediately contact Ms. Gayane Voskanyan, Responsible for external relations, by e-mail: gvoskany@aua.am or by fax: (374 1) 51-25-12.

11. PRELIMINARY PROGRAM OF THE SEMINAR  

The Preliminary program of the Seminar will be distributed separately and will be available soon on Internet at AUA homepage (http://www.aua.am).

12. HOW TO REACH YEREVAN

The best and the shortest way to reach Yerevan is by air. Below is the detailed flights schedule from/to different destinations. In case of any problems please contact Mrs. Almast Karapetyan by e-mail: almast@aua.am of by fax: (374 1) 51-25-12