Background: Earthquake-prone regions from the stable continental regions (like Peninsular India) warrant total seismic hazard estimation from possible sources — reservoir induced or tectonic. The Koyna region falls in the so-called stable continental region, though previously considered as aseismic because of its location in the Peninsular India, which was argued to be the continental Shield re...

By conceptualising local seismic construction practices as capital, this paper proposes a theoretical framework within which its conservation can be envisioned as a means to reducing vulnerability and moving towards more sustainable development. The application of the proposed conceptual framework is demonstrated in the case of Lefkada Island in Greece. Each of the four key constructs (local se...

The formation of fault damage due to slip under high normal stresses can rarely be monitored under in situ conditions. To advance our understanding of microfracture processes, we investigated stick-slip events on Westerly granite samples containing the following: (1) a planar saw cut fault and (2) a fault developed from a fresh fracture surface. We examined temporal changes of seismic moment te...

Monitoring structural response induced by seismic waves is an efficient way to mitigate the damage of earthquakes. For example, the measured signal can be used to activate an alarm system in order to evacuate people from an endangered building, or to drive a control system to suppress earthquake-excited vibrations so as to protect the integrity of the structure, or to assess post-seismic damage...

According to the features and demands of earthquake rescue on-site, automatic modelling and scene generation methods based on fundamental geographic data were investigated, and an earthquake scene model was proposed considering both effect of local site conditions on ground motion and vulnerability of different buildings. Based on ArcGIS Engine, the system in which the scene of pre-earthquake a...

The Adaptively Shifted Integration (ASI) technique, which produces the highest computational efficiency in the finite element analyses of framed structures including static and dynamic collapse problems, is applied to the seismic damage analysis of a reinforced concrete building. By expressing member fracture by a plastic hinge located at the exact position with a simultaneous release of result...

Experimental proof is provided of an unconventional seismic design concept, which is based on deliberately underdesigning shallow foundations to promote intense rocking oscillations and thereby to dramatically improve the seismic resilience of structures. Termed rocking isolation, this new seismic design philosophy is investigated through a series of dynamic centrifuge experiments on properly s...

Concentrically braced frames and eccentrically braced frames are efficient seismic resistant systems but they are generally prone to develop storey collapse mechanisms. As underlined in some previous papers with regard to eccentrically braced frames, this tendency depends on the overstrength factors and damage distribution capacity factors resulting from the use of common design procedures. In ...

The earthquake engineering community recognizes the need to improve current seismic codes and design methods in the light of recent inadequate behavior of building structures. Presently, the performance-based earthquake engineering is being envisioned as the solution to this problem. In this new design approach, the desired behavior of the building is formulated first in the conceptual stage fo...

A hanging glacier at the east face of Weisshorn broke off in 2005. We were able to monitor and measure surface motion and icequake activity for 21 days up to three days prior to the break-off. Results are presented from the analysis of seismic waves generated by the glacier during the rupture maturation process. Three types of precursory signals of the imminent catastrophic rupture were identif...