Contacts between the earthquake engineering communities in the United States and Turkey have intensified since the 1999 Kocaeli and Duzce earthquakes that led to damage and failure of numerous structures in Turkey. Many bridges were affect by these earthquakes. The US engineers and researchers have been working with their Turkish counterparts to maximize the lessons learned from these earthquakes because these lessons would benefit both 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 in earthquake engineering of bridges in the United States and Turkey, (2) To exchange information about recent lessons learned in each country in seismic retrofit of bridges and health monitoring techniques to aid in post-earthquake investigations, (3) To develop areas 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 retrofit and post-disaster evaluation methods for bridges, and (5) To identify sources of funding for joint research in both countries. Relative to previous US-Turkey workshops, the proposed 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 and others with partial support from this project. The delegates will be from federal and state transportation agencies, NSF, the private sector, and the academia. A steering committee will be formed to help select the members and develop the workshop program. The workshop is tentatively scheduled for August 2004 in Ankara.
The proposed workshop will provide an opportunity for close exchange of ideas and lessons that have been learned in the US and Turkey in seismic retrofit and post-earthquake evaluation of bridges. Both countries will benefit from the workshop as information is discussed in detail in the course of the four-day workshop. Seismic retrofit and post-disaster evaluation of bridges are still emerging. Both areas encompass a great deal of technical and non-technical issues. Learning the perspectives of engineers and researchers from other earthquake-prone countries that face problems similar to those of the US will enrich the knowledge of the scientific and design community in the US. Furthermore, the new potential collaborative research could involve undergraduate and graduate students in the US. These students will be trained in earthquake engineering research and design and will be exposed to international views and perspectives. The training of skilled individual with understanding of international issues will enhance the manpower in the US scientific work force and will improve the labor pool for more advanced design and research work in the global market.
