Objective The main goal of the proposed research is to investigate the possibility of allowing below-ground support systems to respond to strong seismic shaking by going beyond a number of thresholds that would conventionally imply failure and are today forbidden by codes. Such thresholds include : (a) sliding at the soil-foundation interface ; (b) separation and uplifting of a shallow foundation from the soils ; (c) mobilization of bearing capacity failure mechanism for shallow foundations ; (d) structural yielding of pile foundations ; (e) combination of some of the above. Whereas under static loading conditions a slight exceedance of such thresholds leads to failure, the oscillatory nature of seismic shaking will allow such exceedances for a short period of time, with perhaps no detrimental or irreparable consequences. The latter take the form of permanent foundation displacements, rotations, or injuries , which the designer will aspire to confine within rational limits. The motivation and the need for this research has come from : (i) observations of actual behaviour in a variety of earthquakes ; conspicuous examples : the permanent tilting , overturning, and often survival of numerous buildings on extremely soft soil in Adapazari during the Kocaeli 1999 earthquake ; (ii) the foundation design of a number of critical structures (e.g. major bridge pier, air control tower, tall monuments, elevated water tanks,) against large seismic actions ; the disproportionately large overturning moment and/or base shear force of such slender structures can hardly be faced with today s conventional foundation methods, (iii) the need to seismically retrofit and rehabilitate older structures and historical monuments; (iv) structural yielding of pile foundations is now detectable (thanks to technological advances), thus eliminating one of the reasons for avoiding it. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeologyseismology Keywords INNOVATION UNCONVENTIONAL earthquake innovation unconventional Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-AG-PE8 - ERC Advanced Grant - Products and process engineering Call for proposal ERC-2008-AdG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant Coordinator ETHNICON METSOVION POLYTECHNION Address Heroon polytechniou 9 zographou campus 157 80 Athina Greece See on map Region Αττική Aττική Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator George Gazetas (Prof.) Administrative Contact Georgia Mertzelou (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window EU contribution € 2 399 992,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all ETHNICON METSOVION POLYTECHNION Greece EU contribution € 2 399 992,00 Address Heroon polytechniou 9 zographou campus 157 80 Athina See on map Region Αττική Aττική Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator George Gazetas (Prof.) Administrative Contact Georgia Mertzelou (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window
