INTRODUCTION

Growing concerns about seismic events in our country has enforced structural engineers and architects to embrace the hazardous effect of ground motion in design. Over a period, extensive research work on the topic and subsequent evolution of Indian Standards have led to a lot of sensitization on the topic among different stakeholders in the construction fraternity. With increase in the seismic activities across the country, it is important to adopt proactive mitigation measures to minimize the loss of life and damage to assets caused by it. Developing and implementing high-level seismic design strategies is a significant step in this regard. In the last decades, countries with advanced seismic protection technologies have significantly reduced losses due to seismic damage in structures through developing and implementing such strategies, including seismic isolation and vibration control (dampers) designs. Adoption of these technologies ensure the continuous operation of the structure even in the aftermath of a strong seismic event. And to effectively understand, adopt and implement them, it is important to impart the right knowhow on this topic.

With this endeavor, Seismic Academy, an initiative by Hilti, organized a webinar on “Emerging Technologies on Earthquake Resilience” on 14th June 2024. Dr. Vasant Matsagar, Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Dr. Yogendra Singh, Professor, Department of Earthquake Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee shared their expertise with the participants on the use of base isolation and seismic dampers respectively, for seismic resilient structures.

Shounak Mitra, Head – Codes & Approval, Hilti India Pvt. Ltd. and the moderator for the session, set a context by introducing Seismic Academy and the different initiatives under its aegis to the participants.
 
Dr. Vasant Matsagar started with the overview of the agenda wherein he looked to give some tenets of base isolation system and how it is being implemented, particularly in the Indian context and what has been the latest developments. He looked to outline his lecture around the need for base isolation, how code developments have happened over the years both in India as well as worldwide, specific examples of structure where these are implemented and the way forward.

There are enough reference material on the subject and the encouragement to participants is to appropriately refer to them. A very comprehensive book on “Passive Vibration Control of Structures” by Suhasini Madhekar and Vasant Matsagar is also available for the construction professions.
 

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