The 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake claimed more than 5500 lives and caused damage in excess of 100 billion dollars. Gas, water and electric utility lines ruptured. Bridges and over-passes on highways, railroads and subways collapsed. High-rise residential and office structures were severely damaged. Liquefied soils settled and spread laterally along the coast and in docks, piers, sea walls and quays. Kilometers of docks and quay walls tilted and settled both at the coast and in the man-made islands, Port Island and Rokko Island. The entire port of Kobe was almost completely destroyed. This urban disaster resulted from an earthquake striking directly within a densely populated urban area. A similar devastation was fortunately avoided in the San Fernando Valley in California as the 194 Northridge earthquake released its energy away from populated areas.
This award is part of a collaborative effort involving a team of US and Japanese researchers. On the US side, the team includes professors and students from Cornell University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Southern California (USC). Several US government and industrial organizations have also agreed to cooperate in the proposed work, including, the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Pacific Gas & Electric Company, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Geological Survey, and Woodward-Clyde Consultants. On the Japanese side, the team consists of professors and students from Kyoto University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of Tokyo, Waseda University, and Yamaguchi University. Several Japanese government and industrial organizations will also contribute to the research effort.
The main objective of the proposed team research is to investigate the effects of liquefaction-induced deformation on foundations and lifelines systems in the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquakes, and to propose engineering solutions that mitigate these devastating effects in future in earthquakes. The findings of the research team will contribute to the implementation of performance-based design in geotechnical and structural engineering in the United States and Japan.
The research team at RPI is focusing on generic centrifuge models and interpretations of two Japanese case histories of lateral spreading: Port Island in Kobe 1995 (with appropriate near-field input excitation), and Niigata 1964 near the Shinano River. The research program also includes centrifuge research and interpretations on lateral spreading effects on pile foundations, on effectiveness of soil and foundations improvement schemes, and on the effect of inertia forces on piles in lateral spreading soil
