An 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile (2010) and a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in New Zealand (2011) proved that newly-established reinforced concrete walls did not demonstrate a proper behavior and even failed in spite of massive researches and continuous update of design bylaws.

Most of damaged walls were non-rectangular or part of the shear wall core while previous researches concentrated on rectangular walls. They were mostly damaged in compression failure and instability of exterior wall frame which instigated new research across the world.

Dr. Beyer who heads the EPFL Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics Laboratory was invited by the USC to give a speech about the weak points of reinforced concrete shear walls in recent earthquakes.

She told the audience about two undergoing research programs which aim to study the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete shear walls and the rules and regulations governing their design and construction.

Dr. Beyer also reviewed a number of previous experiments and elaborated on the weak points of reinforced concrete shear walls.

The Dean of the USC Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Hossein Parastesh also stated that huge earthquakes and mass destructions of fragile buildings made the USC, Sharif University of Technology and the University of Tehran invite Dr. Beyer to exchange views and research findings and gain a better understanding about the research atmosphere of foreign universities. He went on to declare that the USC seeks cooperation with EPFL.

Dr. Parastesh added, “We do our best to exploit the potentials of the USC and its relations with foreign researches to expand research horizons in the USC, in particular the department of civil engineering.”

By Amir Mohammad Ghaffari