Coordinating Workshops for the NEES/E-Defense Collaborative Research Program in Earthquake Engineering (Phase 2)

美国和日本的研究人员认识到地震带来的共同威胁，以及用来减轻社会对这些威胁的脆弱性的类似方法，因此有共同努力加快地震工程研究进展并传播所学知识的传统。利用大型实验设施的美日合作地震工程研究计划是由NSF和日本建设部建筑研究所于20世纪70年代发起的。美国和日本的研究人员合作的项目分为七个阶段，涉及：钢筋混凝土建筑、钢支撑框架建筑、延性砖石建筑、预应力混凝土结构系统、组合和混合结构、智能系统和城市减灾。随着NSF作为小George E.Brown地震工程模拟网络(NEES)的一部分开发多站点共享实验实验室，以及日本国家地球科学与灾害预防研究所(NIED)在日本三木的大型电子防御振动台，NSF和日本文部科学省(MEXT)于2005年启动了NEES/E-Defense协同地震工程研究计划。该计划的第一阶段将持续到2010年，重点关注与桥梁和钢结构建筑相关的地震工程中的关键高优先级挑战。该计划被认为是非常成功的，从而产生了抵御地震影响的创新方法，并产生了高质量的实验室振动台数据，在此基础上可以验证设计概念，验证和改进设计和研究的计算模型。目前正在规划NEES/E防务合作地震工程研究方案的第二阶段。这一阶段计划将重点放在有弹性和可持续的结构和社区。这一重点是为国家减少地震灾害计划制定的2009-2013年战略计划的主要目标和战略重点之一，可在http://www.nehrp.gov.上查阅第二阶段的工作将加强美国和日本研究人员之间的研究合作性质，并提高四类重要结构的抗震能力。这些结构课程将在2009年9月在日本举行的规划会议上最后敲定。第二阶段的第一次规划会议(2009年1月举行)确定了改善第二阶段执行情况的两种方法。与会者建议由社区开发“主题结构”，以促进不同研究团队的合作，并最终在E-Defense摇摆台上进行一系列美日联合实验。为了加强和扩大合作，建议在美国和日本的定期研讨会前后，在感兴趣的研究人员和从业人员之间制定一个更正式的交流计划。因此，这项活动的具体目标是(1)与日本同行共同举办一系列定期研讨会，以分享研究成果和想法，促进研究小组的协调和合作，并为NEES/E-Defense研究工作的主题结构和其他细节制定社区优先事项；(2)提供持续的技术支持，以最大限度地利用NEES/E-Defense研讨会；(3)鼓励NEES/E-Defense计划由NEES和NEHRP社区参与；以及(4)促进研究人员通过报告、专题会议、会议报告和期刊论文开发和传播NEES/E防务协同地震工程研究计划的总体成果。智力价值：NEES/E防务协同研究计划要解决的研究问题在技术上具有挑战性，对实现NEHRP战略计划的主要战略重点之一至关重要。这些研讨会将协同产生新的想法和创新的概念，导致抗震和可持续的工程结构，并改善计划结果。广泛的影响：研讨会的协调扩大了NEES/E-Defense活动的认识和参与，NEES和NEHRP社区，特别强调确保研究生、早期职业研究人员、工程从业者以及来自联邦和州机构的代表的广泛国家参与。

In recognition of their common threat from earthquakes and the similar approaches used to mitigate society's vulnerability to these threats, U.S. and Japanese researchers have a tradition of working together to accelerate progress in earthquake engineering research and to disseminate the knowledge learned. The U.S.-Japan Cooperative Earthquake Engineering Research Program utilizing Large-Scale Experimental Facilities was initiated in the 1970s by NSF and the Building Research Institute of the Japan Ministry of Construction. U.S. and Japanese researchers worked together on projects organized into seven phases involving: reinforced concrete buildings, steel braced frame buildings, ductile masonry buildings, prestressed concrete structural systems, composite and hybrid structures, smart systems, and urban disaster mitigation. With the development of the multi-site, shared-use experimental laboratories by NSF as part of the George E. Brown, Jr., Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), and the large E-Defense shake table in Miki, Japan by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), NSF and Japan's Ministry for Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) initiated in 2005 the NEES/E-Defense Collaborative Earthquake Engineering Research Program. The first phase of this program, lasting through 2010, focused on critical high priority challenges in earthquake engineering related to bridges and steel buildings. This program is judged to be highly successful, resulting in innovative approaches to resist earthquake effects and producing high quality laboratory shake table data upon which design concepts could be validated and computational models for design and research could be verified and improved. A second phase of the NEES/E-Defense Collaborative Earthquake Engineering Research Program is currently being planned. This phase plans to focus on resilient and sustainable structures and communities. This focus is one of the main goals and strategic priorities of the 2009-2013 strategic plan developed for the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), available at http://www.nehrp.gov. The Phase 2 effort will strengthen the collaborative nature of research between U.S. and Japanese researchers and improve the seismic resilience of four important classes of structures. These structural classes will be finalized at a planning meeting to be held in Japan in September 2009. The first planning meeting for the second phase (held in January 2009) identified two ways for improving the implementation of the second phase. The participants recommended that "theme structures" be developed by the community to facilitate collaboration by different research teams, and that these culminate in a series of joint U.S.-Japan experiments on the E-Defense shake table. To strengthen and broaden collaboration, it was recommended that a more formal program of communication among interested researchers and practitioners be developed around regular workshops in the U.S. and Japan. The specific objectives of this activity are thus to (1) convene, in conjunction with Japanese counterparts, a series of regular workshops for sharing research results and ideas, fostering coordination and collaboration by research teams, and developing community priorities for theme structures and other details of the NEES/E-Defense research effort; (2) provide sustained technical support to maximize utility of the NEES/E-Defense workshops; (3) encourage participation in the NEES/E-Defense program by the NEES and NEHRP communities; and (4) facilitate researchers to develop and disseminate, through reports, special conference sessions, conference presentations, and journal papers, the overall findings of the NEES/E-Defense Collaborative Earthquake Engineering Research Program.Intellectual Merit: The research problems to be addressed by the NEES/E-Defense Collaborative Research Program are technically challenging and critical to enabling one of the main strategic priorities of the NEHRP Strategic Plan. The workshops will synergistically generate new ideas and innovative concepts leading to seismically resilient and sustainable engineered structures, and improve program outcomes.Broader Impacts: Workshop coordination broadens awareness of and participation in NEES/E-Defense activities by the NEES and NEHRP communities, with special emphasis on ensuring broad national participation by graduate students, early career researchers, engineering practitioners, and representatives from federal and state agencies.