DE - Núcleo de Engenharia Sísmica e Dinâmica de Estruturas (NESDE)

PROJECTS

STEP

Designation:

Strategies and Tools for Early Post earthquake assessment.

Project Leader:

Scientific Coordinator - Alberto Pavese (EUCENTRE)

Project Manager - Fabio Germagnoli (EUCENTRE)

Objectives:

1. Review of the assessment techniques - Experimental methods for the evaluation of geometrical characteristics, mechanical properties and structural details (level of knowledge of the structure as defined in EC8 and other European code of practice) and numerical analysis for vulnerability assessment will be considered;

2. Design and construction of a Mobile Unit prototype (MU) – The results of the previous review will orient the design and construction of a Mobile Unit (mobile experimental laboratory) properly equipped to perform experimental tests to improve structural level of knowledge and to perform some analytical estimates of the seismic vulnerability;

3. Design of a Coordination Unit (CU) - A special unit with coordination function will be designed and developed to work with MU(s). Fast and reliable wireless connection (Satellite for example) will be implemented to guide MU(s) on field actions, to exchange useful information (shared and used later with other experts working in remote laboratories;

4. Guidelines for optimized use of CU and MU – The most important use of coordinated Cu and MU(s) is related to emergency periods, but these resources could efficiently be used in pre earthquake phase to increase vulnerability knowledge particularly for those buildings with special function in Civil Protection ambit. Guidelines for coordinated employment both during post earthquake emergency and in pre-shake phase will be developed and provided;

5. Harmonization of cross border actions – The advanced procedures developed in this project will be integrated into traditional Civil Protection approaches based on visual inspections and simplified evaluation with vulnerability checklists. Training courses and in field practical application involving several Civil Defence European Institutions will be prepared with the main scope of increase the new assessment tools knowledge and create common intervention procedures using both traditional and advanced assessment methods.

Start - Duration:

February 1st 2007 – 24 Months

Beneficiary:

EUCENTRE - Pavia, Italy

Partners:

Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil - Lisbon, Portugal

Fraunhofer Centre - Fraunhofer Germany

Dipartimento di Protezione Civile - Rome, Italy

Autoridade Nacional de Protecção Civil - Lisbon, Portugal

Dipartimento di Protezione Civile Friuli - Udine, Italy

LNEC Team:

Eng.º Alfredo Campos Costa (Responsible)