Next ICLR workshop to focus on seismic risk management of buildings

The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction will be hosting a seminar on the importance of seismic risk management of buildings, with a focus on post-earthquake functionality.

Part of its ongoing Friday Forum series, the Feb. 20 workshop will feature Ghyslaine McClue, a professor at McGill University in the Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics.

“Current structural design codes have stringent earthquake-resistant design requirements aimed at protecting life safety in case of strong ‘design level’ earthquakes,” according to the ICLR.

“The structural frameworks of post-1990s buildings are deemed to be well protected. Although seismic design requirements for operational and functional components (OFCs) of buildings have been appearing in the National Building Code for several decades, experience indicates that they have not been strictly enforced in practice until recent years, even in buildings with post-critical occupancy,” the organization added.

“However, recent strong earthquakes have confirmed that seismic deficiencies in these components have costly consequences, in terms of deaths, serious injuries, and direct and indirect financial losses.”

The presentation will highlight CSA S832, a national standard introduced in 2006 and significantly revised last June. It provides a simple methodology to assess the seismic risk of OFCs in buildings, existing and new, according to the ICLR.

McClure is also the Associate Provost (Budget and Resources) at McGill. An alumna from Polytechnique Montreal (B.Eng. 1980 and Ph.D. 1989) and MIT (S.M. 1984), she had also practiced transmission line structural/ mechanical engineering for five years before joining McGill in 1991. Her expertise is in computational mechanics and structural dynamics.

The workshop will be held Feb. 20 at ICLR’s Toronto office at 20 Richmond Street East, Suite 210 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The event will also be available to attend via WebEx at  https://iclr.webex.com/iclr/onstage/g.php?MTID=e64915f4ca740aacdd19dc7721bdce0f8

Password: mcclure

Conference Call numbers: Local – 416-343-2657 or Toll free – 1-866-440-8938

Conference ID: 1712397#

RSVP: Tracy Waddington (twaddington@iclr.org)