9701890 Arulanandan This action is to support an international workshop/conference to discuss progress toward, and research needs for, mitigating the deterioration of the Nation's infrastructure resulting from exposure to earthquake hazards, from the viewpoint of ground motion and ground failure. The focus is on the contributions of the NSF- funded VELACS project (Verification of Liquefaction Analysis by Centrifuge Studies), the applications of the VELACS concepts to practice, determining additional research needs, and disseminating this information. A previous international workshop held at the University of California, Davis, in February 1992, also addressed this topic. Since then, numerous contributions have been made to the field of geotechnical earthquake engineering, and some limited applications to engineering practice have been achieved. The objectives of this workshop/conference are: 1) to evaluate the progress that has been made in the past four years in the areas of verified numerical procedures, site characterization to obtain insitu properties for use in numerical procedures, and application of verified numerical procedures in engineering practice; and 2) to determine the research needed to make further progress. This workshop/conference is expected to lead to further advancements in the field of geotechnical earthquake engineering.
