A.October 15th -International workshop “Community Resilience to Natural Hazards in Developing Countries” Time: 12:30 to 15:00 Place: University of Bristol – Queen’s School of Engineering Prof. Bruno gave an invited presentation in the Workshop on “Sino-Italian Collaboration on Structural Engineering for Developing Countries. The Fuzhou University Experience” to introduce the research done by the College of Civil Engineering for risk mitigation of same countries as Bolivia (South America), Nepal (South Asia), Mozambique (Africa). After the Workshop a discussion was done on Collaboration with the other participants. -Presentation at WSP Company Bridge Design Group Time: 12:30 to 15:00 Place: WSP Office in Bristol Prof Bruno was invited by WSP – Bristol to give a presentation on last “Innovation and Sustainability in Bridge Design. Less is more”. WSP (http://www.wsp.com/en-GL) is one the most important and biggest international company in the world for Bride Engineering and its Bristol Office is recognized for its design quality. After the presentation, there was a deep discussion on possible common activities with Fuzhou University and some topics have been selected including Integral abutment Bridges, Ultra high performance concrete, Seismic behavior of Bridges and Conceptual Design of Bridges. B.September 16th -Kick-Off Meeting of the International Project “Seismic Safety and Resilience of Schools inNepal”Time: 8:30-17:00 Place: Engineer’s House in Bristol In 2016, an application to the English National Foundation on the study of the seismic safety and resilience of School Building inNepalwas submitted. The application was approved in June 2017 and so a kick-off meeting was organized on September 16th in Bristol to discuss about it and assign the tasks to all the participants. The Consortium is composed as in the following: Consortium: University of Bristol (Coordinator), Fuzhou University (China), University of Southampton, Arup International Development (UK), Save the Children (UK), University of Kathmandu (Nepal), Tribhuvan University (Nepal), NSET (Nepal), EISPD (Nepal), University of SUNY at Buffalo (USA), California Institute of Technology (USA), University of Roma-Tre (Italy), Supporters: World Bank, Care International, Department of Education of Nepa The topic and what has been discussed was: This project aims at developing a comprehensive scheme for enhancing the seismic safety and resilience of school buildings inNepal. The circle of resilience initiates from a holistic seismic hazard assessment considering refined geological mapping, 3D site and topographic effects as well as seismicity sequence using statistical clustering models. This will be followed by the development of a smart diagnostics expert system app for reliable pre- and post-earthquake structural inspection. Its core logic will be based on US FEMA and ATC-20i standards extended to address functionality risks, inspection bias reduction based on inspection error patterns identified in the existing school buildings databases inGreeceandTurkey. The above state-of-the-art hazard and vulnerability assessments will lead to the risk-based prioritization of schools that need strengthening. Particular emphasis in the diagnostics algorithm will be placed in identifying buildings with minor-to moderate damage, whose safety could be substantially improved with innovative yet simple measures.
Along these lines, means of repair and retrofit will be identified by experimental testing of large and/or full scale, one storey-one classroom, 3D masonry and/or adobe/rammed earth simple buildings, as well as of one bay R/C infill frame, to be conducted at the shaking table of the University of Bristol and the University of Southampton in collaboration with the University of Bullafo, SUNY. Experiments will be co-designed with the project local partners inNepal, where preliminary material testing will take place. The aim is to design a realistic testing campaign tailored to the construction characteristics of school buildings inNepal. A deep understanding of the structural damage patterns will be obtained in the Laboratory by studying experimentally and verifying numerically, the cumulative damage under realistic mainshock and aftershock sequences, an issue that has never been studied at this extent. Innovative repair and retrofit techniques will be tested in order to assess and optimize their efficiency through an additional experimental set. Refined and simple solutions will be tested, co-produced and documented in the form of guidelines along with the local partners. An innovative concept of seismic isolation using natural materials will be the second major strand of experimental research for safer "sliding" construction of school buildings and shelters. This is aimed to provide a new alternative for low cost - high safety reconstruction.
A comprehensive post-quake vulnerability assessment will then be developed accounting for regional materials and employing micro- and meso-fragility modelling for informed decision-making during the post-earthquake response, recovery and mitigation phases. This will build upon the existing emergency plans inNepalwith the specific aim to enrich the decision-making process by integrating post-quake shake maps in nearly real time. A tablet app will also be developed for reliable diagnostics of post-quake structural health based on the spectral-based FAST algorithm, a tested method in seismically active Mediterranean countries. An expert system will further link the identified damage states with the most appropriate repair/retrofit/rehabilitation techniques, as the latter have been identified, tested and certified previously in the Lab.
During the entire duration of the project a series of workshops and training sessions will be organised inNepalin order to interact with the local administration as well as the engineering and educational community. This interaction is deemed vital for the co-development of new concepts, the transfer of know-how and the sustainable construction of schools in both rural and urban areas ofNepal. The College of Civil Engineering of Fuzhou University will be involved in several of the activities, including experimental, survey and design proposals of School Buildings. 该团组已进行事后公示。（对外处公章） （领队签字）Bruno Briseghella 年 月 日 | 
