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TheStructuralEngineerJanuary 2017Volume 95 | Issue 1
The fl agship publication of The Institution of Structural
Engineers
THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE
How can we drive innovation in a risk-averse industry?
BUSINESS PRACTICE NOTES
BACKPROPPING:DESIGN ISSUES
SHOULD WE TEACH SEISMIC DESIGN IN THE UK?
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Seismic design education
And now for some generalisationsSeismic design is generally not
taught in our universities and, typically, UK engineers don’t have
seismic design knowledge. The UK construction industry generally
considers it to be a specialist subject.
UK engineering is well respected around the world. Once qualifi
ed, we tend to consider ourselves ready to tackle whatever comes
our way. Indeed, when the Institution bestows the MIStructE title
upon us, it asserts that we have an ‘international passport to
practice’. However, a ‘passport’ that excludes access to areas
subject to earthquakes is not really living up to that promise.
A fundamental specialismMany of you reading this might say no
engineer can be trained in everything, but that a UK engineering
degree gives us the fundamentals to continue to learn whatever
specialist subject matter our careers throw at us – or perhaps to
recognise when we should engage a suitable specialist.
My problem with that viewpoint is that we consider seismic
design to be a specialism, when it is likely the governing
environmental load for structures housing 70% of the world’s
population. For most of the world,
seismic design is a fundamental of structural engineering.
Our corner of the worldIf you only wish to
practice in the UK, perhaps the passage above is irrelevant. But
in my experience, that attitude is becoming outdated. Many
of our engineers venture to foreign
shores during their careers, and even more
Globetrotting engineer, Joe White, draws on his personal
experience to make a case for seismic
design education to be given a place in the UK structural
engineering undergraduate curriculum.
Viewpoint Is seismic design knowledge relevant to UK
engineers?
It is fair to say that earthquakes worth worrying about do not
occur in the UK – at least not within the context of the design
life we assume for nearly all structures. So, why do I believe UK
engineers need seismic design knowledge?
It’s a big world out thereTake a look at a global seismic hazard
map and you’ll see that earthquakes are a very real prospect for a
large proportion of the world (Figures 1 and 2)1,2. The picture
only looks worse when you consider how the world’s population is
distributed. In 2014, an EU study3 attempted to quantify how many
of us are exposed to seismic hazards. It found that approx. 70% of
the world’s population is located in areas expected to experience
at least a M5.0 earthquake in the next 250 years. To put that
another way, those areas have approximately a 20% chance of
experiencing such an earthquake in the next 50 years. I believe it
is reasonable to say that seismic design is necessary for
structures in areas with such potential.
Beyond that, it is also important to note that not all
earthquakes happen where they are expected. In fact, many damaging
earthquakes occur in regions where seismic activity has been
previously unknown. In addition, in a world that is increasingly
exploiting its natural resources, activities such as shale gas
extraction and the construction of large dams can lead to localised
seismic eff ects. This is far more problematic in areas that are
otherwise unprepared than it is for areas that have already
introduced seismic design principles into local codes.
Opinion
SEISMIC DESIGN EDUCATION IN THE UK
A handful of UK universities off er Masters programmes in
seismic/earthquake engineering:
E Imperial College LondonMSc Advanced Structural Engineering –
Earthquake Engineering
E University of London (UCL)MSc Earthquake Engineering with
Disaster Management
E University of Sheffi eldMSc Earthquake and Civil Engineering
Dynamics
E University of DundeeMSc Earthquake and Off shore
Engineering
E University of London (UCL)MSc Civil Engineering with Seismic
Design
The Institution has also recently introduced a new Specialist
Diploma in Seismic Engineering: www.istructe.org/Seismic-Exam
S Figure 1 GSHAP Global Seismic Hazard Map1
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Seismic design education
As the depth and complexity of the subject matter has gradually
been revealed to me, I can’t help but feel UK engineers miss out on
such a large and fundamental part of what it means to be a
structural engineer in much of the world. I certainly wish I had
been trained in the subject at university.
Recently, my journey through all things seismic has brought me
surprisingly close to home. I have opened a Netherlands offi ce for
Holmes Consulting, the engineering consultancy I worked for in New
Zealand and California. We are working on a wide-scale seismic
assessment and strengthening programme in the northern Netherlands,
where gas extraction has given rise to moderate seismic activity.
We hope to build on this opportunity over the coming years,
providing seismic advice across the continent, as well as our other
services such as fi re engineering and product development.
A fi nal word – we’ve got nothing to loseWhy don’t we teach
seismic design in the UK? Many will say there isn’t time. How then,
do most other countries manage? What have we got to lose? My view
is that it will
undertake design work on projects overseas from the UK. In
either case, it is likely that they will encounter the need for
seismic design. When one considers the countries expected to drive
global fi nancial growth in the coming decades, it is not hard to
see these scenarios occurring more often.
My own storyI was trained in the UK and barely heard the word
‘seismic’ during my fi ve years of study. Upon graduation, I
emigrated and haven’t been back since (at least not in a
professional sense). Over the last 12 years, I have gradually
learned more and more about seismic design. This has been a
necessity in order to ply my trade in various adopted homelands. It
has been a hugely rewarding experience so far, and I am pleased to
say it is far from over.
"FOR MOST OF THE WORLD, SEISMIC DESIGNIS A FUNDAMENTAL OF
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING"
Opinion
REFERENCES
E1) Giardini D., Grünthal G., Shedlock K.M. and Zhang P. (2003)
‘The GSHAP Global Seismic Hazard Map’, In: Lee W., Kanamori H.,
Jennings P. and Kisslinger C. (eds.) International Handbook of
Earthquake & Engineering Seismology, International Geophysics
Series 81 B, Amsterdam: Academic Press, pp. 1233–1239
E2) Seismic Hazard Harmonization in Europe (SHARE) (2013)
European Seismic Hazard Map 2013 [Online] Available at:
www.share-eu.org/node/90 (Accessed: December 2016)
E3) Freire S., Ehrlich D. and Ferri S. (2014) ‘Assessing
temporal changes in global population exposure and impacts from
earthquakes’, Proc. 11th International ISCRAM Conference,
University Park, Pennsylvania, USA, May, pp. 324–328
Joe WhiteMEng (Hons), CEng, MIStructE, PE, CPEng, MIPENZ
Joe is a Project Director with Holmes Consulting in its
Netherlands offi ce. Joe is an expert in seismic analysis and
design. He has delivered projects throughout New Zealand, the USA,
South America, Europe and the Middle East.
E Figure 2 SHARE European Seismic Hazard Map2
better prepare us for our increasingly international careers. I
also strongly believe seismic design
education leads to a better understanding of structural
engineering in general – learning how buildings behave under a
range
of diff erent dynamic loadings situations, and how to design and
detail structures to survive extreme events without total
failure.
That has certainly been the case for me.
HAVE YOUR SAY
To comment on this article:Eemail Verulam at
[email protected] @IStructE #TheStructuralEngineer
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