Earthquake Research & Analysis: Seismology, Seismotectonic & Earthquake Geology

The study of earthquakes plays a key role in order to minimize human and material losses when they inevitably occur. Earthquake analysis or seismic analysis is a subset of structural analysis and is the calculation of the response of a building (or non-building) structure to earthquakes. This is required for carrying out the structural design, structural assessment and retrofitting of the structures in the regions where earthquakes are prevalent. Various seismic data are necessary to carry out the seismic analysis of the structures. These data are accessible into two ways viz. in deterministic form or in probabilistic form. Data in deterministic form are used for design of structures etc. whereas data in probabilistic form are used for seismic risk analysis, study of structure subjected to random vibration and damage assessment of structures under particular earthquake ground motion. Major seismic input includes ground acceleration/velocity/displacement data, magnitude of earthquake, peak ground parameters, duration etc. Earthquake engineering has developed a lot since the early days, and some of the more complex designs now use special earthquake protective elements either just in the foundation (base isolation) or distributed throughout the structure. Analyzing these types of structures requires specialized explicit finite element computer code, which divides time into very small slices and models the actual physics, much like common video games often have "physics engines". Very large and complex buildings can be modeled in this way. The book entitled Earthquake Research and Analysis - Seismology, Seismotectonic and Earthquake Geology offers statistical seismology studies, the latest techniques and advances on earthquake precursors and forecasting, along with, new methods for early detection, data acquisition and interpretation. This book does not emphasis on a unique problem in earthquake processes, but extents studies on historical earthquakes and seismology in diverse tectonic environments, to more applied studies on earthquake geology.