Specialisation modules for Soil Mechanics & Engineering Seismology
ENGINEERING SEISMOLOGY 1
SUBJECT CO-ORDINATOR: Dr P J Stafford (Room 405)
INTRODUCTION
This course introduces the student to the basic concepts of seismology and the
interpretation of seismological data for seismic hazard analysis. The main focus of the
lectures is the determination of ground motion parameters for engineering design. The
course includes, in parallel with the main lectures, the presentation of findings from field
studies of several destructive earthquakes around the world.
COURSE STRUCTURE
The course consists of lectures one afternoon per week throughout the Autumn Term.
The approximate breakdown of the lectures is given below. Time is made for tutorials at
the end of the lectures and special tutorial sessions can be arranged in agreement with
the students.
LECTURERS
Professor J J Bommer - (Room 501), Dr C H Fenton - (Room 534)
Dr S Kontoe (Room 535), Dr P J Stafford (Room 405)
LECTURE CONTENTS
All lectures scheduled from 10:00 to 13:00 (Fridays)
Week Date Topics
1
9/10 Risk/hazard; earthquakes hazards; seismic waves;
source parameters; intensity
2
16/10 Earth structure; Tectonics; Global Seismicity
3
23/10 Faults; mechanisms; activity; source
characterization
4
30/10 Seismicity models and recurrence relations
5
6/11 Accelerograms; ground-motion parameters;
response spectra
6
13/11 Ground-motion prediction relationships
7
20/11 Fundamental concepts of PSHA
8
27/11 Epistemic uncertainty of logic trees; Seismic
hazard and design codes
9
4/12 Site response analysis: overview
10
11/12 Liquefaction: phenomenon; assessment of
hazard
11
18/12 Case histories
Lecturer
PJS
CHF
CHF
PJS
JJB
JJB
JJB
JJB
SK
SK
JJB
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
S L Kramer (1996) Geotechnical earthquake engineering. Prentice-Hall.
L Reiter (1990) Earthquake hazard analysis: issues and insights. Columbia University
Press.
C H Scholz (1990) The mechanics of earthquake and faulting. Cambridge University
Press.
EERI Monographs, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, California.
R S Yeats, K Sieh, C R Allen (1997) The Geology of Earthquakes, OUP.
J P McCalpin ed. (1996). Paleoseismology. Academic Press.
GEOTECHNICAL EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING SEISMOLOGY 2 SMES 2
SUBJECT CO-ORDINATOR: Dr S Kontoe (Room 535)
LECTURERS: Dr S Kontoe (Room 535), Professor J J Bommer (Room 501), Dr C H
Fenton (Room 534), Dr P J Stafford (Room 405), Dr S K Sarma (Room 423)
INTRODUCTION
This course introduces the student to the fundamentals of soil dynamics, including the
behaviour of soils under seismic and dynamic loading and of response and behaviour of
earth structures. Important topics include evaluation of liquefaction potential, effect of
superficial geology on strong-motion and seismic hazard and the dynamic analysis of
slopes and embankments subjected to earthquake loading with particular application to
the design of earth and rockfill dams. The course includes the determination of seismic
earth pressures and seismic bearing capacities and an overview of current foundation
design principles.
COURSE STRUCTURE
The course consists of lectures one afternoon per week throughout the Spring Term.
The approximate breakdown of the lectures is given below. Tutorial time is allotted at
the end of the lectures. Special tutorial sessions may be arranged according to
demand.
LECTURE CONTENT
Week
Topics
Lecturer
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Fault rupture hazard/case histories
PSHA: inputs and uncertainty
PSHA and DSHA: interpretation of results
Wave propagation
Dynamic soil properties
Liquefaction
CHF
JJB
JJB
SK
SK
SK
8
9
10
11
Site response
Seismic slope stability
Seismic design of geotechnical structures
Mini project on site response
SK
SKS
SK
SK
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
S L Kramer. Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. Prentice-Hall, 1996.
Prakash, S. Soil Dynamics, McGraw Hill (Out of print)
Das, B. Fundamentals of Soil Dynamics. Elsevier (Out of print)
Richart, Hall & Woods. Vibrations of Soils and Foundations. Prentice-Hall (Out of print)
Ishihara, R. Soil Behaviour in Earthquake Geotechnics. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1995.
ADVANCED SOIL BEHAVIOUR
SUBJECT CO-ORDINATOR: Professor R J Jardine (Room 530)
COURSE STRUCTURE
21 Hours of contact time (18 lectures and 3 tutorials in the Spring Term
LECTURERS
Professor R J Jardine
Dr C O’Sullivan
Professor D W Hight
(RJJ - Room 530)
(COS - Room 528A)
(Visiting Professor)
A set of lectures, supported by tutorial sessions, covering recent developments in the
characterisation of saturated soils. The main themes are: discoveries concerning the
elastic-plastic response of soils; the effects of fissuring and bifurcation on the properties
of stiff clays; the anisotropy of stress-strain and strength behaviour and soil properties at
small strains (including non-linearity and its significance in practical deformation
problems). Additional lectures are give by Dr O’Sullivan on The influence of the
particulate nature of soils and by Professor D W Hight on advanced aspects of soil
sampling.
LECTURE CONTENTS
Lectures
1-5
Lecturer
RJJ
6-7
RJJ
7 - 10
RJJ
Topics
Recent discoveries concerning soil behaviour under general
triaxial and plane strain conditions; the limitations of
conventional critical state theories
Recent discoveries concerning the anisotropic yielding and
failure characteristics of soils
Stiffness characteristics from small to large strains; the
practical implications of non-linearity. Kinematic yielding
behaviour.
11 - 16
17 - 18
DWH
COS
Advanced aspects of soil sampling.
Particulate nature of soil behaviour.
STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS
SUBJECT CO-ORDINATOR: Dr P J Stafford (Room 405)
LECTURERS: Dr P J Stafford (Room 405), Dr L Louca (Room 438), Dr S Kontoe
(Room 535)
INTRODUCTION
Aims
Students attending this course often come from diverse educational backgrounds; some
already have a good understanding of the principles of engineering dynamics, but many
others have acquired little of such knowledge from their undergraduate studies. The
main aim of the course is therefore to provide a general grounding in the basic
principles of dynamics applied to structures and their interaction with soils in
foundations - not by focussing on the mathematics and mechanics, but rather by
applying the principles to practical problems. A secondary aim of the course is to show
how problems of structural dynamics can be expressed as equivalent problems of
statics, thereby allowing graduate students to draw upon their well-established
knowledge of the equilibrium of structures.
Learning Objectives
Students completing this course should be able to propose an appropriate dynamical
modelling of beams and framed structures and to estimate the natural frequencies and
natural modes for the elastic vibrations of such systems. They should also be able to
estimate the maximum values of significant displacements and internal forces for a
structure subjected to the most usual forms of dynamic excitation. These include
harmonic loading, various types of pulse loads, impact and seismic motion.
COURSE STRUCTURE
The course comprises approximately 30 hours of lectures and tutorials during the
Autumn term.
LECTURE CONTENTS
Lectures
1 (PJS)
2 (PJS)
3 (PJS)
Topics
Dynamic loads. D’Alembert’s principle and inertia forces. Single-degreeof-freedom models.
Free vibrations: natural frequency, initial conditions, maximum
displacements and internal forces, effect of damping, motion caused by
collision or impact.
Forced vibrations: dynamic magnification factor and response spectra;
harmonic loading and resonance.
4 (PJS)
5 (LAL)
6 (LAL)
7 (LAL)
8 (LAL)
9 (SK)
10 (SK)
Short-duration pulse loads, maximum displacements and internal forces.
Multi-degree-of-freedom models. Free vibrations: mass and stiffness
matrices, natural frequencies and natural modes, initial conditions,
Rayleigh damping.
Forced vibrations: modal superposition, estimates of maximum
displacements and internal forces using single-degree-of freedom
response spectra.
Approximation of fundamental frequency using Rayleigh’s method.
Vibration caused by motion of supports, earthquake response spectra.
Direct integration methods of the equation of motion: Explicit and implicit
schemes (central difference, Newmark’s method, Wilson-θ method).
Extension to multi-degree-of-freedom systems. Nonlinear analysis.
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
Chopra, A K Dynamics of Structures: theory and applications to earthquake
engineering, Prentice-Hall, 1995.
Clough, R W and Penzien, J, Dynamics of Structures, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill, 1994.
Craig, R R, Structural dynamics: an introduction to computer methods, Wiley, 1981.
Smith, J W, Vibrations of structures: applications in civil engineering design, Chapman
& Hall, 1988.
Warburton, G B, The dynamical behaviour of structures, Second edn, Pergamon, 1975.