US-Turkey Workshop on Seismic Retrofit and Post-Earthquake Evaluation of Highway Bridges

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Contacts between the earthquake engineering communities in the United States and Turkeyhave intensified since the 1999 Kocaeli and Duzce earthquakes that led to damage andfailure of numerous structures in Turkey. Many bridges were affect by these earthquakes.The US engineers and researchers have been working with their Turkish counterparts tomaximize the lessons learned from these earthquakes because these lessons would benefitboth countries. A joint US-Turkey workshop is proposed with the following objectives: (1)To provide a forum to enhance communication between engineers and scientists involved inearthquake engineering of bridges in the United States and Turkey, (2) To exchangeinformation about recent lessons learned in each country in seismic retrofit of bridgesand health monitoring techniques to aid in post-earthquake investigations, (3) To developareas of common needs and interest in bridge seismic retrofit and health monitoring, (4)To develop a list of priorities for future joint US-Turkey research in seismic retrofitand post-disaster evaluation methods for bridges, and (5) To identify sources of fundingfor joint research in both countries. Relative to previous US-Turkey workshops, theproposed program will have the new dimension of post-disaster evaluation of bridges.Approximately 18 to 20 US delegates will be selected for participation, some with full andothers with partial support from this project. The delegates will be from federal andstate transportation agencies, NSF, the private sector, and the academia. A steeringcommittee will be formed to help select the members and develop the workshop program. Theworkshop is tentatively scheduled for August 2004 in Ankara.The proposed workshop will provide an opportunity for close exchange of ideas and lessonsthat have been learned in the US and Turkey in seismic retrofit and post-earthquakeevaluation of bridges. Both countries will benefit from the workshop as information isdiscussed in detail in the course of the four-day workshop. Seismic retrofit andpost-disaster evaluation of bridges are still emerging. Both areas encompass a great dealof technical and non-technical issues. Learning the perspectives of engineers andresearchers from other earthquake-prone countries that face problems similar to those ofthe US will enrich the knowledge of the scientific and design community in the US.Furthermore, the new potential collaborative research could involve undergraduate andgraduate students in the US. These students will be trained in earthquake engineeringresearch and design and will be exposed to international views and perspectives. Thetraining of skilled individual with understanding of international issues will enhance themanpower in the US scientific work force and will improve the labor pool for more advanceddesign and research work in the global market.