LOSSVAR

The dynamic response of structure under earthquake excitation is to date still an open public safety issue. The uncertainties involved in the modelling of the seismic action - in the structures, the construction materials and also in the variability and characterisation of soils - make the study of the response of structures in an urban environment extremely challenging.

The accurate modelling of soil properties and soil-structure interaction (SSI) is important in measuring the effect of seismic activity and developing safety assessments for industrial plants and critical infrastructures. LOSSVAR will model and evaluate soil-structure interaction and related safety factors in risk assessment. Project partners will produce numerical simulations which will be backed up by experimental tests. Laboratory tests with small scale soil-structure models exhibiting soil variability will be carried out at University of Brighton.

The LOSSVAR project is being led by EDF (Electricite de France) Lab Paris-Saclay. The project leader if Dr Irmela Zentner. Other project partners include LaMSID (Laboratory of Mechanics of Sustainable Industrial Structures) and SPI (Stangenberg und Partner Ingenieur-GmbH).

Project timeframe

The project runs from 1 March 2015 to 31 August 2016.

LOSSVAR has received funding from NUGENIA+ under Work Package 6 (Research and Development). NUGENIA+ supports the NUGENIA Association for the management of research in the development and safety of Generation II and III nuclear installations and for administrative and strategic structuring for the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon2020 and beyond.

Project aims

The research aims, for the first time, to study the vibrations of structures and infrastructures in an urban environment induced by earthquake excitation taking into account the uncertainties involved through rigorous stochastic approach. In particular, ground motion will be modelled through evolutionary non-separable Gaussian stochastic vector processes that take into account the natural spatial and temporal variability of the seismic action. Structure-soil-structure interaction will be taken into account through discrete models able to address both soil nonlinearity and natural variability.

The influence of the soil variability on the structural response will be investigated by means of experimental tests in the dynamic laboratory facility at the University of Brighton. The experimental data will be provided by the University of Brighton to the project partners for verification and validation (V&V) of the numerical models.

Project findings and impact

The project will contribute to a further development of probabilistic analysis techniques in the seismic engineering community. The findings and impact will be available on the project completion.

Research team

Dr Pierfrancesco Cacciola – Principal Investigator

Johan Coronado – PhD researcher

Dr Maria Diakoumi

Dr Kevin Stone

Gavin Gunter – Project Manager

Output

To be completed on the project completion

Partners

Electricité de France (EDF), France

Laboratory of Mechanics of Sustainable industrial Structures (laMSID), France

Stangenberg und Partner Ingenieur-GmbH (SPI), Germany

Project news

Final workshop – organised by EDF on 26 August 2016 at EDF Lab Paris-Saclay