U.S.-U.S.S.R. Joint Meeting on Earthquake Hazards Mitigation: September 9-13, 1991, Moscow, U.S.S.R. (1992)

During discussions among members of the Central Research Institute for Building Structures of the U.S.S.R. (TsNIISK) and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences delegation on earthquake hazard mitigation, the following general prospects for collaborative research and development projects were developed.

Direct intellectual interaction among researchers in the Soviet Union and the United States is bound to improve the state of the art in earthquake hazard mitigation and help people all over the world. Independently, researchers in the two countries have made impressive progress in defending life and property from earthquakes. Together, the results are bound to be synergistic. To achieve that end, it is considered essential to invest resources and do central planning to make communication convenient among individual researchers. Two mechanisms for efficient communication, which have worked efficiently in the past, are recommended strongly: (1) exchange of research staff for periods of six months to two years, and (2) installation of an electronic-mail network easily accessible to researchers in both countries.

Cooperative research projects must be designed to combine the strengths of the two research communities and eliminate weaknesses in the state of the art.

Cooperative research projects are needed to improve the state of the art and the mutual understanding of the two research communities in experimental and analytical methods applied to different materials of construction.

In experimental research, cooperative research projects should be planned to make best use of the available facilities in the Soviet Union and the United States in static and dynamic testing of (a) full-scale buildings, (b) structural elements or element assemblies, and (c) materials.

In analytical research, work would be desirable in (a) modeling of structures responding in the nonlinear range, (b) structures with irregular mass and stiffness distributions along the vertical axis, and (c) structures with eccentric mass or stiffness distributions about the vertical axis.

To develop a broad base of support for analysis, it is essential to undertake cooperative projects in tests of steel, reinforced concrete, precast, prestressed, timber, and masonry structures. Special emphasis needs to be placed on precast concrete and masonry (reinforced and unreinforced).

The existing data in the Soviet Union and the United States should be reevaluated by joint teams to plan future test sites.

Improvements are expected from reevaluation of the existing analysis procedures and data by joint U.S.S.R.-U.S. panels.

Information and design methods on lifelines, transportation structures, and dams in the two countries should be reevaluated by joint panels to plan for future research and development.

1. Seismic codes: development and improvement

2. Seismic risk and zonation studies: vulnerability maps for Kamchatka and northern Armenia

3. Loss estimation studies: Correlation of ground motion with recorded damage to different building types in Spitak; loss estimation studies for a future magnitude 8.0 earthquake in Kamchatka, which is anticipated.

4. Medium risk area: comparative U.S. and U.S.S.R. studies

1. Performance of buildings

2. Standards for retrofit

3. Methods of retrofitting

4. Historic structures

1. Base isolation techniques

2. Damping and energy dissipation

3. Analysis, testing, and applications

4. Low-cost systems such as sand

1. Case studies of Spitak and Leninakan

2. Studies of reconstruction process

3. Building standards for reconstruction

4. Urban planning for reconstruction

1. Configuration studies: statistical studies of performance

2. Nonstructural components and building functions

1. Reconnaissance investigations

2. Detailed studies

3. Specific research

It would be most cost-effective to use local materials for construction of seismicallyresistant structures. Therefore, it is essential that technologies be developed to test and/or modify these materials, especially under seismic loading conditions, to ensure that material characteristics meet the demands from earthquake shakings. Joint efforts in this area of research and development should be explored, particularly in light of the work that has been carried out by the Turkmenian Academy of Sciences (Choschshiev).

During cooperation, the number of research lines can be enlarged. Further, it is advisable to establish cooperation in the following ways: (1) development of working programs of joint research; (2) execution of joint research projects carried out in coordinated programs; (3) editing of joint publications; and (4) mutual visits of specialists to discuss working programs and joint research on the basis of non-currency exchange and the agreement that the “host side pays” expenses through the country, including long-term visits (up to one year), of young researchers.