Engineering Seismology

Institution:
University of Patras, Greece
Specialisation:
ES
Term:
Spring 2011
Teacher(s):
PAPAGEORGIOU APOSTOLOS S.
Credits:
8
Date (from - to):
21/02/2010 – 30/06/2010

Topics to be covered include:

  • Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics;
  • Seismometry;
  • Seismic Waves – Overview;
  • Seismic Source (Important Source Parameters; Source Spectrum; Scaling Laws);
  • Path and Site Effects – Overview;
  • Prediction and Simulation of Strong Ground Motion (Empirical Approaches; Mathematical Modeling Techniques);
  • Seismic Hazard Analysis;
  • Relevance to Building Codes.

The presentation of the topics is tailored to the needs of earthquake engineers.

Suggested readings:

Seismology:

  • Bolt, B.A. (1999), Earthquakes  (Fourth Edition), Freeman.
  • Aki, K. and P.G. Richards (1980), Quantitative Seismology:  Theory and Methods, W.H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, CA.
  • Udias, A. (1999), Principles of Seismology, Cambridge University Press.
  • Pujol, J. (2003), Elastic Wave Propagation and Generation in Seismology, Cambridge University Press.
  • Stein, S. and M. Wysession (2003), An Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes and Earth Structure, Blackwell Publishing.

Elastic Wave Propagation  -  Elastodynamics:

  • Achenbach, J.D. (1975), Wave Propagation in Elastic Solids, North-Holland / American Elsevier.
  • Graff, K.F. (1975), Wave Motion in Elastic Solids, Ohio State University Press.
  • Kausel, E. (2006), Fundamental Solutions in Elastodynamics: A Compendium, Cambridge University Press.

Earthquake Engineering:

  • Kramer, S.L. (1996), Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Prentice Hall.
  • Chopra, A.K. (2007), Dynamics of Structures: Theory and Applications to Earthquake Engineering, Prentice Hall (Third Edition).

Notes:

Prerequisites

  • Elements of Continuum Mechanics
  • Elements of Methods of Applied Mathematics (e.g. Fourier Theory; Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations)

Teaching and learning methods

  • Lectures are given using PPP (=Power Point Presentation) and are supplemented with handouts.
  • Certain homework problems require programming using MATLAB.

Assessment and grading methods

  • Grading is based on:
  • 3 to 4 homework assignments (40%);
  • Presentation of a term project on a topic jointly selected by the student(s) and the instructor (60%).