The CUREe-SCEC Course on the Earth Sciences-Engineering Interface in Seismic Design

(Registration form is at bottom of page.)

This one-day course is based on the premise that there are unifying seismic design themes that bridge between the earth science and engineering disciplines. At present, the two fields are converging on a capability to develop integrated earth science-engineering models of how a building or other structure at any particular location, or an entire urban region, will behave in future earthquakes. This provides a stimulating goal for discussing work that is currently underway in both fields. Lectures are intended for a mixed audience of earth scientists and engineers, and with both practitioner and academic backgrounds in mind.

Engineers today are conversant with the basic idea of plate tectonics and its role on a regional scale in generating crustal strain that is released as earthquakes. However, recent years have seen many exciting discoveries in seismology that have advanced the state of knowledge considerably further. This course will cover these recent advances and explain the seismic hazard analysis and ground motion modeling capabilities seismology can currently provide to the engineering community.

Seismologists and geologists have long known that engineers use data on how big and how frequently earthquakes will occur in a given region to devise building codes, but they may be unfamiliar with the current generation of code provisions and analytical tools engineers use to represent ground motions at particular sites and to propagate those effects through the components of a structure. Current analytical capabilities in the engineering field are increasingly able to take advantage of sophisticated developments in seismology to simulate reality much more closely than was
possible a decade ago. Engineering experts will explain how they use geoscience information in their work, with the aim of allowing earth scientists to better understand the practical aspects of seismic design, including planning and policy aspects.

Registration includes morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch, course notes, and parking in the USC parking lot across Figueroa Steet from the Davidson Conference Center. Directions: From the Harbor Freeway (110) South or North, exit onto Exposition Blvd. and head west towards USC. Turn right onto Figueroa Street and proceed north to the Jefferson/Figueroa Parking Lot on the right, past the Radisson Hotel complex. Tell the attendant that you are attending a meeting at Davidson sponsored by CUREe and SCEC.

Professor Thomas Henyey, University of Southern California and Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC)
"The Earth Sciences-Engineering Interface in Seismic Design: The Importance of Interdisciplinary Interactions"
Keynote Address

Professor Kerry Sieh, California Institute of Technology and SCEC
New Strategies and Technologies for Estimating Regional Earthquake Potential
Use of improved earthquake catalogs, space-time patterns, clustering, GPS and SAR, and paleoseismology to estimate regional potential; "squeezing;" new velocity maps; maximum San Andreas Fault magnitudes; application of work elsewhere (e.g., Anatolia) to California.

Dr. Mark Petersen, California Division of Mines and Geology
Current Seismic Hazard Estimation Techniques
How will our current estimates change as our understanding increases? Attenuation relationships; site effects; synthetic seismograms and simulations.

Professor C. Allin Cornell, Stanford University
Towards Probability-Based Seismic Engineering and Design
Seismic events, ground motion intensity, wave forms, and structural responses and behavior are all characterized by very broad variability. The evaluation and coupling of all these elements of randomness and uncertainty in a useful way is a challenge. Practical examples will be presented of: (2) this seismicity-structural interfacing, (2) coupling PSHA, nonlinear dynamic analyses, and "dynamic system capacities," and (3) more simply, the beginnings of an "LRFD" displacement-based demand-capacity format under development for the SAC Steel Project.

Dr. Sue Hough, US Geological Survey
Near-Fault Ground Motions
What do seismologists and engineers know about near-fault ground motions, and how has our understanding been influenced by the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Kobe Earthquakes? Variability of ground motions near the seismic source, site characterization, and attenuation relationships in the prediction of site-specific ground motions.

Professor Thomas Heaton, California Institute of Technology and SCEC
What kinds of advanced ground motion modeling can earth scientists provide to engineers?
Seismologists can currently provide insights, innovations, and methods that were only theoretical possibilities a few years ago. What are the advanced ground motion modeling techniques seismologists can offer to engineers today?

Dr. Charles Kircher, Charles Kircher and Associates, Consulting Engineers
Ground Motion Provisions in Building Codes
How do the NEHRP Provisions and the Uniform Building Code (and the forthcoming Year 2000 International Building Code) define and treat ground motions for building design purposes?

Professor Helmut Krawinkler, Stanford University
Analytical Methods for Prediction of Seismic Performance
What ground motion information needs to be provided by seismologists, and how is this information to be used by structural engineers to predict seismic performance?

Dr. Farzad Naeim, John A. Martin and Associates
The Use of Geoscience Information in Engineering Design: Recent Project Examples
How was geoscience information used by the design engineers in the recent seismic retrofit projects for two major buildings on the UCLA campus, Royce Hall and Newton Hall?

To register, print this page, complete the following form, and mail to:

SCEC
University of Southern California
3651 Trousdale Parkway, Ste. 166
Los Angeles, California 90089-0742

Name:_______________________________

Address:______________________________________________________________________

Tel:_______________________

Fax:______________________

E-mail:____________________

Visa, Master Card, Discover (circle one)

#:__________________________ exp. Date: __________ Signature: ______________________

Fee:

	pre-registration by November 23, 1998	registration after November 23 1998, or at the door
Member fo CUREe	$50	$55
Member of SCEC	$50	$55
Student	$15	$20
Other Attendees	$95	$105
total

Make check payable to USC, Full registration refunds for cancellations made by Nov. 23 1998, no refunds thereafter.