RAPID: Geotechnical Engineering Reconnaissance of the March 11, 2011, Tohoku Earthquake, Japan

这项快速反应研究（Rapid）资助与日本同事一起进行实地侦察，重点是捕获易腐烂的数据，记录高价值的案例历史，并协助在2011年3月11日发生的9兆瓦级东北地震的关键地点进行地质技术鉴定，这是有史以来最大的地震之一。它是在太平洋板块和北美板块之间的俯冲带界面板块边界上或附近逆冲断裂的结果。地震之后发生了海啸，造成了巨大的破坏和生命损失。勘测小组将通过岩土极端事件勘测协会（GEER）进行协调，并将与美国和日本其他组织的团队密切合作。这次9.0级地震和随后的海啸造成的破坏为太平洋西北地区和美国西海岸提供了许多重要的教训。来自日本地震台网的大量强震数据使以往任何俯冲带地震事件的数据相形见绌，为研究地面运动特征和长时间震动对地面破坏的影响以及当地现场反应模式提供了许多机会。受影响的城市地区提供了一个机会来检查民用基础设施的各个部分的性能，包括地下结构、公用设施和地面广泛变形地区的生命线的性能；不同主要河流堤防系统的性能；天然斜坡、路堤填充物和水坝的性能；改善地面性能；以及沿海岸线的构造隆升和俯冲。历史上前所未有的海啸也为收集其侵蚀力的数据提供了机会，特别是对各种结构和桥墩。设计级地震后的观测记录和学习对于提高地震工程的技术水平和实践是非常宝贵的。建筑和基础设施的性能和破坏模式、地面破坏的分布、横向扩展和地震引起的斜坡位移的情况、与构造有关的地面运动等，提供了宝贵的信息，将作为该专业对地震影响的理解的基准。这次Mw = 9.0级的大型逆冲地震代表了太平洋西北部的一次重要地震情景，因此，确实需要记录其岩土工程影响。此外，GEER团队还包括职业生涯早期的研究人员，以帮助他们发展地震工程方面的能力，并使他们能够在日本建立研究联系。

This Grant for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) award funds field reconnaissance with Japanese colleagues that will focus on capturing perishable data, documenting high-value case histories, and assisting in geotechnical characterization at key sites in regards to the March 11, 2011, Mw = 9 Tohoku Earthquake which ranks as one of the largest in recorded history. It occurred as a result of thrust faulting on or near the subduction zone interface plate boundary between the Pacific and North America plates. The earthquake was followed by a tsunami that caused tremendous damage and loss of life. The reconnaissance team will be coordinated through the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association and will be working closely with teams from other organizations in the US and Japan. The damage caused by this Mw = 9.0 event and the subsequent tsunami provides a number of important lessons for the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast of the United States. The wealth of strong motion data from the Japanese networks dwarfs those from any of the previous subduction zone events, providing numerous opportunities for studying the ground motion characteristics and the effects of very long-duration shaking on ground failure and local site response patterns. The affected urban areas provide an opportunity to examine the performance of various parts of civil infrastructure including the performance of underground structures, utilities and lifelines in areas of extensive ground deformations; the performance of levee systems along the different major rivers; the performance of natural slopes, embankment fills, and dams; the performance of improved ground; and tectonic uplift and subduction along the coastline. The historically unprecedented tsunami also provides opportunity to collect data on its erosive power with respect to variety of structures and bridge piers in particular.Documenting and learning from observations after design level earthquakes are invaluable to advancing the state-of-art and practice in earthquake engineering. Building and infrastructure performance and damage patterns, the distribution of ground failure, cases of lateral spreading and seismically induced slope displacements, ground movements associated with tectonics, among others, provide invaluable information that will serve as benchmarks to the profession's understanding of the effects of earthquakes. This megathrust Mw = 9.0 event represents an important earthquake scenario in the Pacific Northwest, and thus, there is a real need to document its geotechnical effects. Moreover, the GEER team includes researchers who are in the early part of their careers to help develop their capabilities in earthquake engineering and allow them to establish research contacts in Japan.