2023 Chapter Meetings
Hazard Activities and Challenges at the Global Earthquake Model
Marco Pagani, PhD, Seismic Hazard Coordinator, Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation and Adjunct Professor Institute of Catastrophe Risk Management, NTU, Singapore
EERI, New England Chapter, Lecture Series
Tuesday July 18, 2023, 12:00 – 1:00PM, Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Register for FREE at: HERE
Abstract: The hazard team at the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation develops hazard models and tools for performing probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. Two of the most successful products are the hazard component of the OpenQuake Engine – an open-source software for computing probabilistic seismic hazard and risk – and the Global Mosaic of hazard models. A large community of users currently employs the OpenQuake Engine to complete various analyses, including studies at a national scale and site-specific analyses. The mosaic is a collection of thirty probabilistic hazard analysis input models developed by national agencies, international projects, public and private organizations and GEM. In this presentation, an overview of the main products and activities carried out at GEM in the hazard space, including ongoing projects and future research directions are provided, followed by a discussion on the challenges encountered in hazard modelling.
Biography: Marco Pagani is the Seismic Hazard Coordinator at the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation and adjunct professor at the Institute of Catastrophe Risk Management, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He received a Master’s degree in Geological Sciences and a PhD degree in Earth Sciences from the Università degli Studi di Milano. He has more than 25 years of experience in Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA), PSHA input model building, seismic microzonation and exploratory data analysis. His research interests involve the creation of PSHA input models combining different information and new approaches, the development of PSHA calculation methodologies and their incorporation into openly accessible tools including the OpenQuake Engine. He was involved in several national and international projects dealing with seismic hazard and risk analysis as well as consultancy projects for seismic hazard assessment of critical facilities in Europe, Africa and Asia. As part of his duties, he managed various national and international PSHA projects in South America, the Caribbean and Central America, and Africa. Currently, he is a member of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) supervising the creation of the new national hazard maps for New Zealand and, the coordinator of the hazard work package of the European projects METIS and TREAD.
2022 Chapter Meetings
Vibration Monitoring in Buildings and Its Application in Seismic Risk Reduction
Eric M. Hernandez, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Vermont
EERI, New England Chapter, Lecture Series
Friday, September 30, 2022, 1:00 – 2:00 PM, Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Register for FREE at: HERE
Abstract: Seismic risk as it relates to buildings is a product of the seismic hazard, the structural vulnerability, and the consequences of failure. Monitoring vibrations in buildings before, during and after potentially damaging earthquakes can provide valuable information regarding the structural characteristics of buildings and their vulnerability. In contrast to building codes and regulations, which address the building population as a statistical ensemble, vibration monitoring allows engineers and stakeholders to obtain individualized information about their particular building structure. Information extracted from vibration measurements can be used to improve rapid screening, make better predictions regarding future performance during a potentially damaging earthquake, inform decisions regarding retrofit, and perform rapid post-earthquake assessments which can significantly improve community resilience. In this talk, Prof. Hernandez will present the theoretical foundations of seismic vibration monitoring, ongoing research on the topic, and some real-world applications.
Biography: Prof. Eric M. Hernandez is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Graduate Program Director at the University of Vermont. He specializes in structural engineering and has over 20 years of experience as a researcher, consultant, and educator. He received his BS in Civil Engineering from Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena in the Dominican Republic and his MS and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University. His research interests include structural dynamics, inverse problems, earthquake engineering, reliability of engineering systems, and structural health monitoring. Since joining the University of Vermont in 2011 he has received several research grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Vermont Agency of Transportation. In 2018, he received the inaugural Sweeny Green and Gold Professorship in Civil Engineering. At the University of Vermont, Prof. Hernandez teaches courses in structural analysis, earthquake engineering, and reliability of engineering systems.
A Panel Discussion on Vulnerability of Masonry Buildings Against Ground Shaking in Low to Moderate Seismic Zones
Michael Fillion, PE, SECB, President, Fillion Group, Inc.
Ken Lambert, CSL, CSI, Director of Industry Development & Technical Services, International Masonry Institute
Jitendra Bothara, Director, ResiPro International Engineering Ltd.
Hosted by EERI, New England Chapter
Thursday April 7, 2022, 4:00 – 5:00 PM, Eastern Time (US and Canada)
For registration, please visit: HERE
Please join us for an open discussion on URM. The event will begin with a brief introduction of a topic by each speaker followed by discussion and questions. The speakers and their topics are…
- Ken Lambert – Building inventory in New England and history of masonry code requirements in New England.
- Mike Fillion – History of addressing Seismic Hazards of URM buildings in the Massachusetts State Building Code and how we got to the current provisions.
- Jitendra Bothara – Seismic safety of URM buildings – New Zealand Approach.
Multi-Hazard Parametric Catastrophe Bond Trigger Design for Subduction Earthquakes and Tsunamis
Katsuichiro Goda, Western University, Ontario, Canada
EERI, New England Chapter, Lecture Series
Tuesday January 25, 2022, 2:00 – 3:00PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Register for FREE at: HERE
Abstract: This study presents trigger design methods and performance evaluations of multi-hazard parametric catastrophe bonds for mega-thrust subduction earthquakes and tsunamis. The catastrophe bonds serve as alternative disaster risk financing tools for insurers and reinsurers as well as municipalities and governments. Two types of parametric catastrophe bond trigger are investigated. A scenario-based method utilizes available earthquake source-based information, such as magnitude and location, whereas a station-intensity-based method can be implemented when seismic and tsunami hazard monitoring systems are in place in a region. The case study results, focusing on wooden buildings in Miyagi Prefecture, in Japan indicate that the station-intensity based trigger methods outperform the scenario-based trigger methods significantly. Incorporating seismic and tsunami hazard information from multiple recording stations results in smaller trigger errors. The station-intensity-based methods are applicable to building portfolios at both municipality levels and regional levels. The work is published in Earthquake Spectra (doi: 10.1177/8755293020981974).
Biography: Dr Katsuichiro Goda is an Associate Professor and a Canada Research Chair in Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. His research is focused on catastrophic earthquake-related multi-hazard risk management from economic and societal viewpoints. His research interests are broad and multidisciplinary, and cover a wide range of academic fields, including engineering seismology, earthquake engineering, tsunami engineering, and decision-making under uncertainty. In 2012, his professional expertise was recognized through a prestigious 2012 Charles F. Richter Early Career Award given by the Seismological Society of America and a Humboldt Research Fellowship Award for experienced researchers by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He received the 2017 IASSAR Early Achievement Research Award given by the International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability.
2021 Chapter Meetings
Lifeline Infrastructure System Functional Recovery and Operability
Dr. Craig Davis, Ph.D., PE, GE, 2021 EERI Distinguished Lecturer
Followed by a Panel Discussion
Panelists:
Dr. Craig Davis, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Dr. Stephen Potts, Geologist, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Tirzah Shakespeare, Public Utilities Engineer, Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities
Wednesday November 10, 2021, 2:30-4:00 PM (Eastern), 11:30 AM-1:00 PM (Pacific)
Register for FREE at: HERE
Abstract: Historically, seismic design and building codes have focused primarily on ensuring safety in the event of an earthquake, with less attention to the state of structures and infrastructure systems in the aftermath. However, an increasing focus on resiliency in recent years has brought new attention to the concept of designing for functional recovery: a post-earthquake state in which capacity is sufficiently maintained or swiftly restored to support pre-earthquake functionality. As detailed in the January 2021 FEMA/NIST report “Recommended Options for Improving the Built Environment for Post-Earthquake Reoccupancy and Functional Recovery Time,” this means considering not only safety and recovery time for buildings, but ensuring recovery-based design, upgrade, and maintenance of a lifeline infrastructure systems as well. In this webinar, co-hosted by the EERI New England Regional Chapter and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Student Chapter, EERI 2021 Distinguished Lecturer Craig Davis will present a short lecture on Lifeline Infrastructure System Functional Recovery and Operability, followed by a live panel with speakers from the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. They will speak on the role, preparedness, and plans of their organizations to mitigate damage and restore service of critical lifeline systems after a disaster, and join Dr. Davis for a Q&A session with the webinar audience.
Biography: In his three-decade-long career at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Dr. Davis worked as the Departmental Chief Resilience Officer, Seismic Manager, and Geotechnical Engineering Manager, and developed a comprehensive L.A. Water System resilience program. He has served on professional committees, including the Building Seismic Safety Council, the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction, and ASCE Infrastructure Resilience Division. Dr. Davis has published more than 150 technical papers and investigated numerous earthquakes.
Davis has been honored with the ASCE 2016 Le Val Lund Award for Practicing Lifeline Risk Reduction, the 2020 Charles Martin Duke Lifeline Earthquake Engineering Award, and the EERI Distinguished Lecture Award. The annual Distinguished Lecture Award is awarded to EERI members to recognize and encourage communication of outstanding professional contributions of major importance for earthquake hazard mitigation.
Determination of Undrained Strength for Contractive Coal Combustion Residuals for Seismic Assessment
Seda Gokyer Erbis, Ph.D., P.E. & Ryan Lavorati, M.Sc., P.E., Geocomp
EERI, New England Chapter, Lecture Series
Wednesday October 20, 2021, 1:00 – 2:00 PM (Eastern Time)
Register for FREE at: HERE
Abstract: The evaluation of slope stability for Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) impoundments is becoming increasingly important as multiple failures involving undrained behavior of granular materials have recently occurred. Seismic loading is a load case where undrained behavior can be triggered that causes a rapid increase in mobilized shear stress or a rapid decrease in effective stress if contractive saturated materials are present. This rapid loading can trigger liquefaction within a CCR layer which would require considering the residual shear strength for the CCR material. Undrained strength parameters for CCR materials can be highly variable. Cone penetration tests (CPTs) are simple and relatively inexpensive, however CPT measurements is an indirect
measurement which must be converted to strength through semi-analytical-empirical correlations. Such correlations are reasonably well understood for natural clays and sands but there exists only limited correlation data for CCR materials. To improve our understanding of the shear strength of CCR materials, a program was developed to collect CPT data from five CCR impoundments and companion “undisturbed” tube samples for laboratory strength testing Laboratory testing was done to measure both monotonic and post-cyclic undrained strength in direct simple shear devices. All the laboratory tests showed contractive behavior. CPT data were also used to estimate the peak and residual strength of the CCR material using available correlations. Generally, reasonable agreement was obtained by the two independent approaches but with significant scatter. This study summarizes the approaches used to apply Best Applicable Practices to make a reliable determination of peak and residual undrained shear strength of CCR materials and provides recommendations on improving available methods to determine undrained shear strength of contractive materials.
Biographies: Seda Gokyer Erbis is a Project Engineer/Assistant Project Manager for Geocomp Corporation – Massachusetts Consulting Group. She has been with Geocomp for six years, holding a doctoral degree in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. She has been leading the project management and technical efforts for one of Geocomp’s largest consulting projects on seismic assessment of coal ash impoundments. She has over seven years of experience in geotechnical earthquake engineering, especially in advanced laboratory testing. She has authored and co-authored several publications in peer-reviewed ASCE and ASTM journals and conference proceedings.
Mr. Lavorati is a Project Engineer at Geocomp Corporation – Massachusetts Consulting Group. He is responsible for a range of project activities including geotechnical design, laboratory testing, data management, computer-based modeling, field investigations, and project management. He has been involved with different aspects of engineering work, from litigation review to design analysis to information research. He has extensive modeling experience in a variety of geo-structural and presentation software packages, including AutoDesk, GeoStudio, Rocscience, DEEPSOIL, and FLAC, amongst many others.
Assessing the Influence of Epistemic Uncertainties on Earthquake Loss Estimates for California
Edward (Ned) H. Field, Research Geophysicist, USGS
EERI, New England Chapter, Lecture Series
Tuesday April 27, 2021, 12:00 – 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
The Zoom Seminar is FREE!
For registration, please visit: HERE
Abstract: To aid in setting scientific research priorities, we assess the potential value of removing each of the epistemic uncertainties currently represented in the US Geological Survey California seismic-hazard model, using average annual loss (AAL) as the risk metric of interest. Given all the uncertainties, represented with logic-tree branches, we find a mean AAL of $3.94 billion. The modal value is 17.5% lower than the mean, and there is a 78% chance that the true AAL value is more than 10% away from the mean, and a 5% chance that it is a factor 2.1 greater or lower than the mean. We quantify the extent to which resolving each uncertainty improves the AAL estimate. The most influential branch is one that adds additional epistemic uncertainty to ground motion models, but others are found to be influential as well, such as the rate of M ≥ 5 events throughout the region. We discuss the broader implications of our findings, and note that the time dependence caused by spatiotemporal clustering can be much more influential on AAL than the epistemic uncertainties explored here.
Biography: Edward (Ned) Field has been a research geophysicist with USGS since 2000. He specializes in the development of earthquake-forecast models, which are one of the two main modeling components used in modern seismic-hazard analysis (the other being ground-motion models). His focus area has mainly been California, which due to an abundance of scientific talent and data constraints, has enabled the forging of state-or-the-art methodologies. Ned has led the development of the Third Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF3), representing both multi-fault ruptures and spatiotemporal clustering (e.g., aftershocks); the relevance of both these effects was dramatically exemplified in a recent sequence of damaging earthquakes in New Zealand. These forecast models influence a variety of risk mitigation activities, including building codes and catastrophe models used by insurance industry. Important themes he is focused on nowadays include: a better quantification of uncertainties; the use of more physics-based approaches; and the need to add “valuation” to verification and validation protocols. Ned has also led the development of OpenSHA, which is an open-source, and platform-independent computational framework for conducting seismic hazard analysis, which supports loss modeling as well. He is also an active member of the planning committee of the Southern California Earthquake Center.
Are Small Earthquakes a Big Deal?
Julian J Bommer, Senior Research Investigator, Faculty of Engineering, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College, London
Friday February 5, 2021, 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada), Virtual Event
Tufts CEE Seminar Series and Joyner Lecture at The New England Chapter of EERI Present
Abstract: Earthquake engineering has traditionally focused on protecting society against the effects of large magnitude earthquakes but in recent years there has been increasing interest regarding the impact of smaller earthquakes. This has been driven partly by the occurrence of some low-magnitude earthquakes that have been cause unexpected levels of damage and particularly by the heightened concern regarding earthquakes of anthropogenic origin. The lecture begins by re-visiting the often-misunderstood rationale behind the exclusion of smaller magnitude earthquakes from probabilistic seismic hazard analysis as being related to the risk posed by such events. A number of case histories of small magnitude events reported to have caused damage are then reviewed, highlighting in each case the specific factors contributing to the impact and in some cases arguing that the impact may have been exaggerated. This is followed by a global analysis of small-to-moderate magnitude earthquakes to ascertain the likelihood of these resulting in damage and/or injury. As well as looking at the smallest magnitude earthquakes that have caused structural damage, the question of the smallest magnitudes required to trigger liquefaction is also addressed. The lecture concludes with some insights regarding if and when smaller earthquakes should be a concern as well as discussing the challenges associated with modelling the resulting hazard and risk that such events can pose.
Please Register for Seminar: HERE
Lecture Flyer (PDF)
2020 Chapter Meetings
| Earthquake Drain Mitigation of Seismic Damage: Research and Practical Applications |
| Antonios Vytiniotis, Ph.D., P.E., Managing Engineer at Exponent |
| Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, New England Chapter, Lecture Series
Thursday December 3, 2020, 12:00 – 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)The Zoom Seminar is FREE! For registration please email Debra McKnight (Debra.Mcknight@tufts.edu) |
| Abstract: Soil liquefaction is an important design consideration. A technique finding increasing use due to its simplicity and low cost is mitigating liquefaction using earthquake drains (EQ-Drains). EQ-Drains are perforated vertical plastic conduits that function by accelerating the dissipation of excess pore water pressures. This seminar will describe general characteristics of EQ-Drains and present the results of state-of-the art research for the design and use of EQ-Drains. The presentation will discuss coupled pore pressure-deformation dynamic finite element analyses of liquefiable soils improved with EQ-Drains. It will discuss coupling of the soil domain with simpler structural models incorporating advanced dynamic p-y springs. It will finally discuss the use of fragility analysis to understand the seismic risk of geostructural components. The seminar will include detailed comparisons with centrifuge and field experimental testing as well as practical applications for practitioners. EQ-Drains, if designed and installed correctly, can provide a cost-effective means to combine the benefits of both strength- and drainage-based liquefaction mitigation. |
| Biography: Dr. Vytiniotis has background in structural and geotechnical engineering, geotechnical earthquake engineering, and numerical analysis. He has worked on numerous projects in more than 20 states and multiple countries, assisting project owners, law firms, utility companies, insurance companies and developers. His analyses consist of assessing soil improvement, soil-structure interaction, effects of vibrations and vibration isolation, construction defects, premises code compliance, dam safety, landslides, LNG and diesel tank condition assessments, API tank inspections, assessing wind turbine failures, causation of MSE wall failures, effects of adjacent construction, soil heave or settlements, frost-induced effects on soils, pipeline installation, effects of soil movements on pipelines, water intrusion, flooding, scour and backfill quality. Dr. Vytiniotis has performed research and consulting work on the seismic response of pile-supported wharves, seismic slope stability, the effectiveness of prefabricated vertical drains (earthquake drains) and soil densification in reducing liquefaction risk, the effect of gravel drains in amplifying seismic accelerations, and numerical simulations of centrifuge experiments. He also has research experience in constitutive soil modeling and evaluating settlements in soft soils associated with staged levee construction. He is also a member of Geo-Institute’s Deep Foundation and Computational Geotechnics committees. |
Approaches to Modeling Ergodic Seismic Site Response in Central and Eastern North America
Grace Parker, U.S. Geological Survey, Earthquake Science Center
Tufts CEE Seminar Series and The New England Chapter of EERI Present
Friday November 13, 2020 12:00pm Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Virtual Event
The seminar focuses on the Next Generation Attenuation East project resulting in a suite of ground motion models for central and eastern North America.
Grace Parker is a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow at the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Science Center in Moffett Field, California. She holds a B.S. in Applied Geophysics (2014) and a PhD in Civil Engineering (2018) from the University of California Los Angeles. Her research interests are in earthquake ground motion and seismic hazard, with a particular focus on model development, nonergodic site response, and applications to earthquake early warning systems.
| Functional Recovery: What it Means to Design for Community Resilience |
| 2020 EERI Distinguished Lecturer David Bonowitz (M.EERI, 1994) |
| Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, New England Chapter, Lecture Series
Tuesday September 15, 2020, 4:00 – 5:30 PM (Eastern Time) |
| Abstract: This lecture will focus on the emerging concept of functional recovery as a basis for earthquake-resistant design. Designing buildings and infrastructure for limited downtime – or an acceptably quick functional recovery – is not new, but it is receiving new attention through state and federal legislation, and showing new feasibility through research and technology. Most intriguing is the recognition that designing for functional recovery is a necessary tool for achieving community-wide earthquake resilience. And if progress is to be measured at the community level, functional recovery will also be a matter of public policy. The lecture will look at the roles EERI members can play in shaping this thinking into design practice with four sets of questions: definitional, technical, policy, and implementation. |
| Biography: The EERI Distinguished Lecturer for 2020 is Mr. David Bonowitz (M. EERI, 1994). He is an appointed member of the new Federal Emergency Management Agency-National Institute of Standards and Technology working group on Functional Recovery of the Built Environment and Critical Infrastructure. He is a co-author of “Functional Recovery: A Conceptual Framework,” an EERI white paper, and lead author of “Resilience-based Design and the NEHRP Provisions”. Mr. Bonowitz is also a Fellow Member of Structural Engineers Association of Northern California and Structural Engineers Association of California, and past chair of the National Council of Structural Engineers Association Existing Buildings and Resilience committees.
The Distinguished Lecture Award recognizes EERI members who have made outstanding contributions to earthquake risk reduction. The award encourages communications and dialogue on important and timely topics. |
2018 Chapter Meeting
Lecture Meeting
Lecture Title: “Life Safety in the City, There is More to Life Than Not Being Crushed”
Speaker: 2017 EERI Distinguished Lecturer Lucy Jones, PhD (M. EERI, 2001)
Date: Thursday May 10, 2018
Time: 5:30– 7:00 PM
Location: AIR Worldwide, 131 Dartmouth St, Boston, MA 02116
Attendance Limited, For RSVP email ekianirad@air‐worldwide.com
Abstract: The Resilience by Design program adopted by Los Angeles to address earthquake vulnerabilities brought together the earth science, earthquake engineering and public policy professions and worked with hundreds of community organizations to get approval for sweeping seismic resilience legislation. The process elucidated the disconnect between what well-informed members of the community and local governments understand about the earthquake risk and the goals and objectives of mitigation measures like building codes, and what has been implemented in most communities. Since their inception, building codes have been based on a principle that safety is the only valid concern of government. If an owner chooses to build a building that is a total financial loss, that is his prerogative but he cannot kill someone in the process. A key factor is that building codes consider buildings in isolation with impacts only on their owners and tenants. But the reality of a major earthquake is that the failure of a building impacts the whole community through economic disruption, population decreases, and cascading failures of engineered and social systems. This talk will explore a conceptual framework for creating a building code that reflects the realities of earthquake losses and the social dynamics of shared economic decisions.
2017 Chapter Meeting
Lecture Meeting
Lecture Title: “Seismic Hazard Assessment and Monitoring of Tall Buildings”
Speaker: Nafi Tokzos, Professor, MIT
Date: Friday May 12th, 2017
Time: 3:00 to 4:30 pm
Location: MIT Green Building(#54); 2nd Floor; Room 54-209
2016 Chapter Meetings
Lecture Meeting
Lecture Title: “Development and Implications of a Procedure for Estimating Vs30 for Use as an Alternative to the Method Used in the ASTM Standard”
By Alfredo Urzua, Ph.D, Adjunct Professor at Boston College, Founder of Prototype Engineering, Inc.
Date: August 31, 2016 (Wednesday evening)
Time: 6:00– 8:00 PM
Location:Weston Observatory, 381 Concord Road, Weston, MA 02493
Following Dr. Urzua’s presentation, interested members are invited to attend a guided tour of the observatory.
Biography: Dr. Urzua is an adjunct professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences department at Boston College and is the founder of Prototype Engineering, Inc. in Winchester, MA. He received his Ph.D. from MIT from the Department of Civil Engineering for his work on analyzing permanent displacement from cyclic loading of foundations. His interests include geotechnical engineering, earthquake engineering, reliability engineering, and groundwater flow.
Lecture Meeting
Lecture Title: “Designing for Collapse Resistance in Moderate Seismic Regions”
By Eric Hines, Ph.D, P.E., Principal at LeMessurier, Professor of Practice at Tufts University
Date: May 12, 2016 (Thursday evening)
Time: 6:00– 7:00 PM
Location: AIR Worldwide, Inc. 131 Dartmouth, Boston, 02116
2015 Annual Meeting – Boston
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)
67th Annual Meeting
Theme: “Old Cities, New Earthquakes”
March 31-April 3, 2015
Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA
Meeting information and registration http://2015am.eeri-events.org/
Submit poster abstracts https://www.eeri.org/cohost/registration/2015-eeri-am-poster-abstract
Local contact Scott Civjan <Civjan@ecs.umass.edu>
Download the Brochure: 2015_AM_Brochure_3R
Become a sponsor: EERI 2015 Annual Meeting Sponsor Packet
Working Group Meeting
February 24, 2015 (Tuesday) 4:00-6:00 PM Working Group Meeting“Structural Engineering Perspectives on Seismic Design in the Region”
The EERI Chapter Working Group is meant to provide technical discussions and dissemination of information related to the seismic hazard in the Northeast. The purpose, initially, will be to review regional topics with the goal of commenting on regional concerns. It is hoped that any consensus recommendations from this ongoing working group can be incorporated into the national discussion. Please join us if you have an interest in this topic.
LeMessurier Consultants Meeting Room
1380 Soldiers Field Road
Boston, MA 02135
Directions at http://www.lemessurier.com/directions
Chapter Meeting
February 24, 2015 (Tuesday) 4:00-6:00 PM Working Group Meeting“Structural Engineering Perspectives on Seismic Design in the Region”
The EERI Chapter Working Group is meant to provide technical discussions and dissemination of information related to the seismic hazard in the Northeast. The purpose, initially, will be to review regional topics with the goal of commenting on regional concerns. It is hoped that any consensus recommendations from this ongoing working group can be incorporated into the national discussion. Please join us if you have an interest in this topic.
LeMessurier Consultants Meeting Room
1380 Soldiers Field Road
Boston, MA 02135
Directions at http://www.lemessurier.com/directions
October 8, 2014 (Wednesday)
Lecture Meeting (flyer at LecturePoster10_08_14)6:00-8:00PM
Simpson, Gumpertz and Heger Seminar Room 41 Seyon Street Building 1, Suite 500 Waltham, MA 02453M Directions at http://www.sgh.com/boston%20directionsF.pdfSpeaker: Harold Magistrale, Lead Research Scientist, FM Global
“Earthquake Risk Maps at FM Global”
FM Global insures commercial and industrial properties around the world and so requires a uniform worldwide assessment of earthquake risk for underwriting and engineering servicing decisions. We construct earthquake risk maps that show the return times of earthquake ground motions that can cause slight damage to URM low-rise buildings or slight-to-moderate damage to non-ductile concrete moment frame high-rise buildings. The steps to construct the risk maps are, first, perform a PSHA for a uniform soil, second, assign NEHRP site response categories and apply the NEHRP amplification factors, and third, compare the ground motions to the damage thresholds. The PSHA is performed on the OpenQuake software of the Global Earthquake Model. Site response categories are determined from the topographic slope method. The FM Global earthquake risk maps are different from building code maps in that the former account for soil conditions and show return times of spectral accelerations that initiate damage to weak buildings, whereas the latter present a ground motion parameter for a fixed return time without correcting for soil conditions.
August 18, 2014
4:00-6:00PM Working Group Meeting“Soil Effects on Ground Motions – Part II”
The EERI Chapter Working Group is meant to provide technical discussions and dissemination of information related to the seismic hazard in the Northeast. The purpose, initially, will be to review regional topics with the goal of commenting on regional concerns. It is hoped that any consensus recommendations from this ongoing working group can be incorporated into the national discussion. Please join us if you have an interest in this topic.Tufts University Medford Campus
School of Engineering
200 College Avenue
208 Anderson Hall
Parking available at Dowling Hall Garage, 419 Boston Ave.
June 26, 2014 (Thursday evening)
Lecture Meeting 6:00– 8:00 PM GEI Consultants Seminar Room 400 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn MA 01801 Directions at http://www.geiconsultants.com/locationsLecture Title: “Geotechnical-Earthquake Engineering Building Code Provisions and Impacts on Design” by Ehsan Kianirad, Ph.D. Haley and Aldrich
ABSTRACT: Seismic considerations of building codes have a significant impact on the design of structures. This presentation will shed light on important concepts and parameters that play a major role in seismic code provisions for buildings including the seismic hazard level, Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE), site effects from soil and rock conditions, spectral acceleration coefficients, and seismic design category. Earthquake motions are represented by spectral acceleration coefficients provided in seismic hazard maps for the MCE. At a particular site, these motions are subject to site effects depending on soil and rock conditions. The spectral acceleration coefficients are combined with the site class to determine the design accelerations. Alternatively, site specific response analysis could be performed to obtain a design response spectrum for a particular site. Consequently, seismic design category (SDC) is determined from the design response spectrum and the structure’s desired level of performance. Applicable building design requirements are expressed as a function of the SDC in the building codes. A background on these issues will be provided, the process for determining the relevant parameters will be explained, and impacts on building designs will be discussed including regional considerations. Case histories will be used to illustrate key points.
May 7, 2014
Noon-2:00PM Working Group Meeting“Soil Effects on Ground Motions”
The EERI Chapter Working Group is meant to provide technical discussions and dissemination of information related to the seismic hazard in the Northeast. The purpose, initially, will be to review regional topics with the goal of commenting on regional concerns. It is hoped that any consensus recommendations from this ongoing working group can be incorporated into the national discussion. Please join us if you have an interest in this topic.Tufts University Medford Campus
School of Engineering
200 College Avenue
Anderson Hall
Parking available at Dowling Hall Garage, 419 Boston Ave.
April 3, 2014 (Thursday evening)
Lecture Meeting 6:30– 8:00 PM, Haley & Aldrich 465 Medford Street Directions at Directions to HA Boston printableLecture Title: “Basis for Maximum Considered Earthquake Ground Motions in New England” by Nicolas Luco, Ph.D. of the United States Geological Survey (USGS)
ABSTRACT: The presentation will summarize the USGS computation of hazard curves for New England and explain the calculation of risk-targeted ground motions. A comparison will be made between Risk-Targeted Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCER) values in New England to their uniform-hazard Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) counterparts. Furthermore, the reasons for any changes in the New England region ground motion maps in the various editions of the IBC will be discussed. The MCER ground motion maps in the 2012 and 2015 editions of the International Building Code and MCE ground motion maps in previous editions are all based on the computations of the USGS National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project. For the MCE ground motions, the Building Seismic Safety Council interpolated the hazard curves at an exceedance probability that corresponds to 2% probability in 50 years. The interpolated ground motions are known as “uniform-hazard” ground motions, since the exceedance probability is geographically uniform. In contrast, for the MCER ground motions, all of the points on the computed hazard curves were used to develop maps that target a 1%-in-50-years collapse probability for new buildings. Since collapse probability is synonymous with collapse risk, the resulting ground motions are referred to as “risk-targeted.”
February 26, 2014 (Wednesday evening) Business Meeting and Lecture 6:30– 8:30 PM, 315 Shillman Hall Northeastern University http://www.northeastern.edu/campusmap
EERI New England Regional Chapter Meeting Agenda 2_26_14
Lecture Title: “Potential Changes to Design Requirements for Earthquake Resistance and Its Impact on Design Practice in New England” by Dominic Kelly: Principal at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
ABSTRACT: The Provisions Update Committee of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) is developing several proposals for change to seismic design provisions to be used in the U.S. These proposals are in various stages of development, but all have the potential to lead to changes to the seismic design provisions of ASCE/SEI 7 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures. This talk will describe several of the proposals that are being considered with a focus on those changes that likely will impact design practice in New England. These proposals include creation of design provisions that are applicable only to seismic design category (SDC) B buildings, revisions to the Simplified Seismic Design Procedure in ASCE/SEI 7, improved estimations of diaphragm force levels and ductility, a design approach applicable to buildings dominated by the response of a roof diaphragm, strength design for foundations, revised soil site factors, revised seismicity maps, and revisions to seismic design category criteria.
January 6, 2014
Working Group Meeting Noon-2:00PM
“Seismic Hazard in New England”
Brown Bag Lunch
An EERI Chapter Working Group will be forming to provide technical discussions and dissemination of information related to the seismic hazard and ground motion mapping in the Northeast. The purpose, initially, will be to review the USGS mapping and methodology that is being considered for implementation with the goal of commenting on regional concerns. It is hoped that any consensus recommendations from this working group can be incorporated into the national discussion. Please join us if you have an interest in this topic.
Tufts University Medford Campus
School of Engineering
200 College Avenue
Anderson Hall – Room 216
Parking available at Dowling Hall Garage, 419 Boston Ave.