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

认识到地震的共同威胁以及用于减轻社会对这些威胁的脆弱性的类似方法，美国和日本的研究人员有着共同努力加快地震工程研究进展并传播所学到的知识的传统。美国--利用大型实验设施的日本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共同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，延性砌体建筑，预应力混凝土结构系统，复合和混合结构，智能系统和城市减灾。随着美国国家科学基金会（NSF）作为乔治E.小布朗，日本国立地球科学与灾害预防研究所（NIED）、NSF和日本文部科学省（MEXT）于2005年在日本三木的地震工程模拟网络（NEES）和大型电子防御振动台上启动了NEES/电子防御合作地震工程研究计划。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，导致创新的方法来抵抗地震的影响，并产生高质量的实验室振动台数据，设计概念可以验证和计算模型的设计和研究可以得到验证和改进。NEES/E-Defense合作地震工程研究计划的第二阶段目前正在计划中。这一阶段计划侧重于有复原力和可持续的结构和社区。这一重点是2009-2013年为国家地震减灾计划（NEHRP）制定的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合作性质，并提高四类重要结构的抗震能力。2009年9月将在日本举行的规划会议上最后确定这些结构类别。第二阶段的第一次规划会议（2009年1月举行）确定了改进第二阶段执行工作的两种方法。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，并最终形成一系列美国-日本在电子防御振动台上进行实验。为了加强和扩大合作，建议围绕在美国和日本举办的定期研讨会，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）与日本同行一道，定期举办一系列讲习班，以分享研究成果和想法，促进研究小组的协调与合作，并为NEES/电子防御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/电子防御讲习班;（3）鼓励NEES和NEHRP社区参与NEES/E-Defense计划;（4）通过报告、特别会议、会议报告和期刊论文，促进研究人员开发和传播NEES/E-Defense合作地震工程研究计划的总体成果。NEES/电子防御合作研究计划要解决的研究问题在技术上具有挑战性，对于实现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概念，从而产生抗震和可持续的工程结构，并提高项目成果。讲习班协调扩大了NEES和NEHRP社区对NEES/电子防御活动的认识和参与，特别强调确保研究生，早期职业研究人员，工程从业人员，以及来自联邦和州政府机构的代表。

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.