Soil-structure interaction and optimum seismic design of onshore and offshore energy projects

Synopsis

Since society demands increased availability and reliability of energy supply, together with improved environmental standards, the structural design of any onshore or offshore energy project (including its foundation) may be very demanding, depending on the circumstances. It is evident that in the case of long energy projects that traverse remote regions with extreme terrains and/or seabeds, such as a gas pipeline or a cable, the design may be more challenging due to the variety of geotechnical conditions and the potential geohazards along the routing. Nevertheless, in areas that are characterized by moderate or high seismicity the design of energy projects may be more complicated due to the various types of seismic loading. The seismic loading may be either dynamic due to the inertial forces developed on the mass of the structure(s) and/or quasi-static due to the permanent ground deformations (PGDs) caused by various earthquake-related geohazards, such as active-fault ruptures, slope instabilities, and soil liquefaction phenomena. The current presentation tries through case studies to shed some light on these interesting issues of geotechnical earthquake engineering from a structural and a geotechnical perspective. The first part of the presentation focuses on the impact of local site conditions (i.e. soil stratigraphy, bedrock geomorphology, and/or surface topography) on the ground surface motion that will dominate the dynamic structural response. In the second part emphasis is given on the quantitative assessment of the earthquake-related geohazards and the realistic estimation of the PGDs that will actually determine the soil-structure interaction and the structural response / distress. Finally, the third part of the presentation is devoted to remote sensing and early-warning systems that are required for the safe operation of the energy projects.

About the speaker

Dr. Prodromos Psarropoulos is a Structural and Geotechnical Engineer with a balanced scientific and professional experience in the analysis and design of various structures and geostructures for almost 25 years. After his Ph.D. on Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering from National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), he conducted advance research in various institutes in Greece and Italy, while he has been an adjunct Associate Professor of Geophysics and Earthquake Engineering in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering of the Hellenic Air-Force Academy. In parallel, he has been involved in the design and construction of various challenging engineering projects in Greece and abroad. His expertise is on Geotechnics, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, including mainly: (a) problems of static and dynamic soil-structure interaction (such as foundations, retaining structures, pipelines, etc.), (b) static and seismic stability assessment of dams, slopes and embankments, and (c) numerical simulation of dynamic soil response (i.e. local site effects and microzonation studies). Currently, he is teaching courses of geotechnical engineering and offshore engineering in the School of Rural and Surveying Engineering of NTUA, while he has been a lead member of the team of experts for the quantitative geohazard assessment and the seismic design of the upgrade of the main oil-refinery in Greece and two major high-pressure gas pipelines in south-east Europe (IGI-Poseidon and TAP).

Further information

This evening meeting is organised by SECED and chaired by Stavroula Kontoe (Imperial College London). Non-members of the society are welcome to attend. Attendance at this meeting is free. Seats are allocated on a first come, first served basis. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be served from 5.30pm. The meeting commences at 6pm and should end no later than 7.30pm. The bar will be open after the event. For further information, please contact Shelly-Ann Russell (tel. 020 7665 2147, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

This event will be broadcast online.

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