The international seminar on
Comparative Performances of Seismic Design Codes was the first opportunity for 'The Concrete Committee' of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) to organize an international event to disseminate its own research products and activities world wide.
The topic of the seminar was selected following the 1996 publication of 'The Seismic Design Code' by 'The Concrete Committee' of JSCE.
The damages suffered by modern concrete structures during the Hyogoken-Nanbu Earthquake in 1995 was the principal motivation for these revisions of the code. This presented an opportunity to try to compare the performance of the revised code with those of existing major seismic design codes in the world, i.e., CALTRANS Code, EURO Code 8, NEW ZEALAND Code.
Due to the unique seminar format, Volume 1 of the proceedings introduced explanatory notes for the four codes. In addition, the four codes were applied to the comparative designs of bridge piers by 'The Committee on Comparative Design of Bridge Piers'.
The outcome of this was remarkable, as shown in this work. Diversities to the designed sections according to the different codes were shown, even though the ground motions, mass of super structures and materials were the same throughout the designed bridge piers. Differences were particularly noted for high piers with large ground acceleration. In the seminar, fundamental reasons for these differences were discussed and numerical evaluations presented.
Volume 1 was published prior to the seminar, Volume 2 was published after the seminar concluded. Volume 2 of the seminar proceedings includes the discussion for the contents of Volume 1 and the main elements of the four codes. Therefore, some of the modifications for the trial design of bridge piers in Volume 1, are also included reflecting the discussion at the seminar. Besides these, the contents include the numerical evaluation of designed bridge piers, which conclude the comparison of the performances of four major seismic design codes as a whole. As appendices, the main provisions of the four codes that are used in designing are attached so that the readers of the books will benefit from the convenience of the reference. The overall aim of the International Seminar on Comparative Performances of Seismic Design Codes for Concrete Structures are thus accomplished and we are quite sure that this will help structural engineers who are engaged in seismic design of RC structures to understand the differences of the basic ideas underlying in each of the seismic design code provisions with ease and to make most of those.
