Structural Seismic Design Optimization and Earthquake Engineering : Formulations and Applications

Throughout the past few years, there has been extensive research done on structural design in terms of optimization methods or problem formulation. But, much of this attention has been on the linear elastic structural behavior, under static loading condition. Such a focus has left researchers scratching their heads as it has led to vulnerable structural configurations. What researchers have left out of the equation is the element of seismic loading. It is essential for researchers to take this into account in order to develop earthquake resistant real-world structures. Structural Seismic Design Optimization and Earthquake Engineering: Formulations and Applications focuses on the research around earthquake engineering, in particular, the field of implementation of optimization algorithms in earthquake engineering problems. Topics discussed within this book include, but are not limited to, simulation issues for the accurate prediction of the seismic response of structures, design optimization procedures, soft computing applications, and other important advancements in seismic analysis and design where optimization algorithms can be implemented. Readers will discover that this book provides relevant theoretical frameworks in order to enhance their learning on earthquake engineering as it deals with the latest research findings and their practical implementations, as well as new formulations and solutions.

Dr. Vagelis Plevris is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering Educators, School of Pedagogical & Technological Education (ASPETE) in Athens, Greece and a research associate at the School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He holds a bachelor in Civil Engineering, an MSc in Earthquake Engineering, a PhD in Computational Mechanics from NTUA and also a Master in Business Administration from the Athens University of Economics and Business. His research work focuses mainly on computational earthquake engineering, design optimization, reliability analysis of structures and neural networks applications in structural engineering. His published research work includes more than 10 peer-reviewed journal papers, 4 contributed books as editor, 4 chapters in international scientific books and 22 papers in international conferences.

Dr. Chara Ch. Mitropoulou is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Structural Analysis and Seismic Research of the School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens. She holds BSc, MSc and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. She has participated in a number of research projects and consultancies in the areas of structural analysis and structural dynamics, shape, sizing and topology optimum design of structures, mathematical programming, performance based design of RC and steel structures as well as life cycle cost and fragility assessment of structures. Her publications include 4 book chapters, 2 papers in non-referred international scientific journals, 7 publications in referred international scientific journals and 13 papers in conference proceedings.

Dr. Nikos D. Lagaros is a Lecturer at the Institute of Structural Analysis and Seismic Research of the School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens and at the School of Corps of Engineers of the Hellenic Army since 2007. He is serving as treasurer of the Greek Association for Computational Mechanics, while he acts as NSF panellist at the Directorate for Engineering Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation, since 2010. Dr. Lagaros provides consulting, peer-review and expert-witness services to private companies and federal government agencies in Greece. A focus of his consulting work is the assessment of buildings after earthquake events and the development of technical software. The results of his research activity encompass a wide range of topics with an interdisciplinary character in the field of computational mechanics. His published research work contains: 70 peer-reviewed journal papers, 1 book, 6 contributed books, 2 international conference proceedings, 15 chapters in international books, 135 papers in international conferences.