On 6 July at the Kursaal an event curated by the teacher Davide Forcellini
Experiments in which entire buildings are built and collapsed to analyze the characteristics and dynamics of collapse in the event of an earthquake. 'Intelligent' systems located sometimes above and sometimes below the foundations, in some cases capable of calibrating the response based on the entity of the earthquake, measured in a few moments thanks to digital equipment. And again: prevention and the ideal interventions to be implemented after an earthquake for bridges and ducts through which gas, water and other resources pass. These are some of the topics that will be explored in depth on Saturday 6 July at the Kursaal Congress Center during a symposium on Earthquake Engineering organized by the University of the Republic of San Marino and the Secretariat of State for the Territory.
Seven speakers are expected to offer a series of authoritative and up-to-date points of view on a sector that combines security and technology: “First of all, an eminence such as Joel Conte of the University of California San Diego, director of Large High-Performance Outdoor Shake Table”. Davide Forcellini, main curator of the event and professor at the University of San Marino, explains it: “It is one of the very rare systems in the world on which structures are built and collapsed through the simulation of an earthquake. As large as a football field, the shaking table allows us to proceed with full-scale experiments that would otherwise be impossible and particularly effective.”
Also from the University of California, Professor Lizhi Sun "will explain how the most advanced semi-active insulation technologies at the base of structures work, which for example allow a building not to deform during an earthquake thanks to an innovative system that records the type of earthquake coming and conforms accordingly."
This is a solution that goes hand in hand with that of geotechnical isolation (GSI) at the base, which involves the insertion of "layers of rubbery material under the foundations, in contact with the ground and capable of reducing the effect of the earthquake ”. Hing Ho Tsang, professor at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, "considered one of the most active scientists in the world", will talk about it.
Professor Hassan Karampour of the Griffith School of Engineering and Built Environment will illustrate "what needs to be done to guarantee the functionality of services after an earthquake that can hit the pipelines in which resources such as water and gas circulate", while Stergios-Aristoteles Mitoulis, professor of the University of Birmingham, "will explain how resilience can be applied to similar dynamics related to bridges, which will also be at the center of the speech by Professor Alessandro Palermo of the University of California San Diego".
Finally, among the speakers is Forcellini himself: the San Marino native has concentrated part of his most recent research on the historic center of Titano and will offer the audience the results of a study through which he developed the seismic resilience of Palazzo Pubblico, the main institutional headquarters of the republic.
The symposium, with free admission, will take place from 9.30 to 12.30 under the patronage of the Italian Seismic Engineering Association (ISI) and the Order of Engineers and Architects of San Marino.
Photo credits: “Jacobs School of Engineering, UC San Diego”
