Speaker
Prof. Lap-Loi Chung
National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering
Abstract
Taiwan is located in a seismicity active area and mitigation of earthquake disaster is an important issue. Technology is not well-developed to predict the occurrence of earthquake. Even though earthquake loss cannot be completely eliminated, it can be effectively minimized through preparedness before earthquake, emergency responses during earthquake and rehabilitation after earthquake. With seismic design, the performance of new structures can be guaranteed. Because of uncertainty of earthquake, structures may encounter earthquakes that may exceed the design one. Under this unexpected earthquake, structures only with design strengths may be seriously damaged or even collapsed. Therefore, the ductility after ultimate strength is also a key factor for seismic design. Moreover, in addition to structure, seismic performance of facilities has to be considered in some important structures such as hospital in order to be functional after major earthquake. Seismic codes are updated with time so that existing structures may be deficient in seismic performance from the viewpoint of the most updated seismic codes. Because of a large number of existing structures, it is impossible and impractical to demolish all of them. By seismic evaluation, the performance of existing structures can be realized. If its performance is inadequate, retrofit measures can be taken to upgrade the seismic performance. Research, development and implement on seismic design, evaluation and retrofit of structures will be presented.
Biography
Dr. Chung is Research Fellow at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering. He obtained his Ph.D. and M.S. from the, Department of Civil Engineering, SUNNY at Buffalo after he graduated from the National Taiwan University. He has also been an adjunct professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University.