Radu Vacareanu – författare

This book encompasses the most challenging topics in earthquake engineering and seismology aiming at seismic risk reduction and reveals the outstanding progresses made in Europe in the past four years. Earthquakes pose a significant threat to countries around the world. But, equipped with the right knowledge and tools, engineers and seismologists can support policy and decision makers and building officials in creating a safer future for all of us. In this paradigm, the Third European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (3ECEES) is organized in Bucharest (Romania) in September 2022 by the Romanian Association for Earthquake Engineering, Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest and National Institute for Earth Physics. This outstanding scientific event is the third in a series started in 2006 in Geneva, Switzerland and continued in 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The papers included in this book are written by the most prominent contemporary European scholars in the two-folded fields of 3ECEES. The Distinguished Nicholas Ambraseys, along with 28 invited lectures providing the best knowledge in the fields of earthquake engineering and seismology, are shared with the general readership of this book. The book is organized in three parts, as follows: (1) Seismicity, engineering seismology and seismic hazard, (2) Seismic risk assessment and mitigation, and (3) Structural earthquake engineering. The 29 contributed papers for this book are shared among these three parts almost equally.

Chapter “The Challenge of the Integrated Seismic Strengthening and Environmental Upgrading of Existing Buildings” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

These proceedings include most of the available information on this major seismic event and its consequences. With an estimated moment magnitude of 7.7 and a heavy toll in terms of human and economic losses, it ranks as the largest intermediate-depth earthquake in Europe in the twentieth century. Nevertheless, because of the difficult conditions in the 1940s, the lessons learnt after the Vrancea earthquake were not extensively shared with the international scientific community and thus, this book fills a gap in the literature discussing the knowledge acquired after major disasters.

Past experience together with current understanding of the 1940 Vrancea earthquake are presented along with the latest information on Romanian seismicity, seismic hazard and risk assessment, and seismic evaluation and rehabilitation of buildings and structures. Moreover, it includes excerpts from Romanian post-disaster reports and textbooks concerning the earthquake. 

This book discusses the impact of long-period ground motions on structural design using the situation in Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, as a case study. The first part explores the seismic hazard situation in Bucharest, and the causes of long-period ground motions related to both the source and the site. Subsequently, it examines the current seismic design, detailing building practices in Bucharest, and discusses the impact of long-period ground motions on seismic design. Lastly, several case study buildings in Bucharest are presented and the major difficulties encountered in their design are considered. The book also includes various numerical examples that help readers understand the impact of long-period ground motions on various structural systems, that are currently used in Bucharest. This book is intended for researchers in the field of seismic hazard and risk assessment and designers of multi-story buildings in seismic areas.