Groundwater vulnerability maps are important decision support tools for water resource protection against pollution and helpful in minimizing environmental damage. However, these tools carry a high subjectivity along the multiple steps taken for the development of such maps. Additionally, the theoretical model on which they are based does not consider other important parameters, such as pollutant concentration or pollutant residence time in a given section of the aquifer, solely focusing on the theoretical travel time of a pollutant particle from a release point towards a target. In this work, an integrated methodology for the evaluation of potential (intrinsic) and actual vulnerability is presented. This integrated method, named Integrated Karst Aquifer Vulnerability (IKAV), was developed after the analysis of several study cases around the world and the application of multiple intrinsic groundwater vulnerability methods in a selected study area. Also, a solute transport model served as the basis to define additional parameters for vulnerability analysis for areas severely affected by anthropogenic practices. However, the focus of the transport model must not be mistaken to be hazards and risk mapping. A defined workflow and several criteria for parameters and attributes selection, rating and weighting, and vulnerability classification are presented here. The first application of the IKAV method was carried out in the Yucatán karst, demonstrating to be a reliable method for vulnerability estimation. Results demonstrated the scope of the IKAV method in highlighting important regional conditions, minimizing the subjectivity, and expanding the analysis of vulnerability.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Fish and shellfish are, with very few exceptions, generally considered safe. Food safety laws in many parts of the world are, however, requiring companies to implement programs such as Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) as a means of assuring food safety from harvest to consumption. In South Africa, fishing companies wishing to export products to countries such as the European Union (EU), the United Sates (US), et cetera have, over the past number of years, been required to implement HACCP. Various issues are, however at stake with regards to the successful implementation of HACCP and thus this study project is primarily focused on the application of the HACCP system to the white fish industry. The method of study involved consultation with various local authorities in order to highlight existing HACCP problems within the South African White Fish Industry. A literature survey was conducted to ascertain the requirements of various countries and international organisations and iii addition to gain an in-depth knowledge as to theworking requirements of HACCP. Prior to setting in place a HACCP system, the model reviews in detail the HACCP manual requirements and prerequisite programs required. The prerequisite programs are not limited to but include good manufacturing practices, operation and sanitation, pest control, traceability and recall procedures, customer complaint procedures, chemical control program and training. Process flow diagrams need to be developed and verified for each process and product. Once completed an analysis of the various biological, chemical and physical hazards that are likely to affect the safety of the product is conducted. The seven principles of HACCP are clarified together with how they may best be implemented and monitored, taking in to consideration the various parameters of each fish processing establishment. A brief introduction about the relationship between the HACCP system, ISO 9000 and total quality management (TOM) and the advantages and disadvantages of each system is included. The study project is completed with recommendations for further study in other food processing industries. Recommendations include, but are not limited to ensuring that current and new legislation be regularly monitored, HACCP models be developed for industries such as the shellfish industry, et cetera and that, where possible, harmonisation of the requirements be internationally agreed upon. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Oor die algemeen word vis en skulpvis, met 'n paar uitsonderings, as veilig beskou. Internasionaal word daar deur die voedsel veiligheidswette vereis dat maatskappye aan 'n standaard naamlik HACCP ( Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) voldoen wat verseker dat die voedsel vanaf sy oorspronklike bron tot en met by die verbruiker veilig is vir gebruik. In Suid Afrika, word oor die laaste aantal jare van alle vismaatskappye wat vis wil uitvoer na Europeuse lande of die Verenigde state, verwag om HACCP te implimenteer. Verskeie kwessies is op die spel met betrekking tot die suksesvolle implimentering van HACCP en daarom word hierdie projek gefokus op die suksesvolle implimenteering van die HACCP beginsel in die witvis bedryf. Vir die studie is plaaslike owerhede genader om vas te stel waar bestaande probleme met betrekking tot die witvis bedryf is. 'n Literatuur studie is uitgevoer om te bepaal wat die behoeftes is van verskillende lande en internationale instansies en ook om 'n indiepte kennis te bekom vir die funksionerings vereistes van HACCP. Die model beskryf volledig wat vereis word om 'n HACCP handleiding saam te stel en die voorvereiste programme wat benodig word alvorens 'n HACCP plan inwerking gestel kan word. Daar is geen beperkings ten opsigte van die voorvereiste programme nie maar dit sluit die volgende in: goeie vervaardigings praktyke, higiëne bestuur, plaagbeheer, identifiseering en produk ontrekking prosedure, verbruikersklagtes, chemikalië beheer en opleiding. Vir elke proses en produk moet daar 'n vloei diagram opgestel word. Daarna moet 'n ontleding gedoen word van alle moontlike biologiese, chemiese en fisiese gevare wat die veiligheid van 'n produk kan benadeel. Verder bespreek die studie die sewe beginsels van HACCP, die implimentering en monitering daarvan met inagneming van die uniekheid van elke prosesaanleg. 'n Kort oorsig oor die verwantskap tussen HACCP, ISO 9000 en "TQM ( Total Quality Management)" met elk se voor en nadele word ook bespreek. Die studie word afgesluit met aanbevellings vir verdere studies in die voedselprosesseringsindustrie, oor die monitering van huidige en toekomstige wetgewing, die ontwikkeling van HACCP modelle en harmonisering van internasionale en plaaslike vereistes soos ooreengekom.

Concrete highway bridges are important elements of our country's transportation infrastructure; however, only few studies that address their seismic behavior using data collected from instrumented structures are available in the literature. This gap of knowledge impairs full exploitation of structural health monitoring techniques for seismic damage assessment, and improvement of design recommendations. This research is particularly concerned with curved concrete box-girder highway bridges, whose seismic behavior is still widely unexplored due to lack of field monitoring data. By taking advantage of vibration records collected during six earthquake events at the West Street on Ramp, a curved concrete box-girder highway bridge located in Anaheim, California, this research aims at advancing knowledge about the seismic behavior of these bridges. Modal identification of the bridge during the earthquakes is conducted, and sensitivity analysis is carried out to reconcile the observed dynamic characteristics of the bridge with the behavior of its structural elements. Data collected from an instrumented large-scale bridge specimen during shaking table tests are also analyzed to gain insight about the response of the bridge bents during the earthquakes, and propose a strategy to model their seismic behavior. Information from modal identification and the shaking table tests analyses are instrumental in developing a nonlinear finite element model of the bridge, calibrated employing a multistage finite element model updating strategy. In order to evaluate the significance of using the structural-health-monitoring-informed structural model obtained, seismic performance assessment through incremental dynamic analysis is conducted, and results are compared with the predicted performance estimated with a conventional finite element model of the bridge. By advancing knowledge about the seismic behavior of concrete highway bridges, this research may ultimately contribute to improve structural health monitoring practices and design guidelines for this type of structures.

Past earthquake events have shown that seismic damage to electrical power systems in commercial buildings, hospitals, and other systems such as public service facilities can cause serious economic losses as well as operational problems. A methodology for evaluation of the seismic vulnerability of electrical power systems is needed and all essential components of the system must be included. A key system component is the switchboard cabinet which houses many different elements which control and monitor electrical power usage and distribution within a building. Switchboard cabinets vary in size and complexity and are manufactured by a number of different suppliers; a typical cabinet design was chosen for detailed evaluation in this investigation. This study presents a comprehensive framework for the evaluation of the seismic performance of electrical switchboard cabinets. This framework begins with the introduction and description of the essential equipment in building electrical power systems and explains possible seismic damage to this equipment. The shortcomings of previous studies are highlighted and advanced finite element models are developed to aid in their vulnerability estimation. Unlike previous research in this area, this study proposes practical, computationally efficient, and versatile numerical models, which can capture the critical nonlinear behavior of switchboard cabinets subjected to seismic excitations. A major goal of the current study was the development of nonlinear numerical models that can accommodate various support boundary conditions ranging from fixed, elasto-plastic to free. Using both linear and nonlinear dynamic analyses, this study presents an enhanced evaluation of the seismic behavior of switchboard cabinets. First the dynamic characteristics of switchboard cabinets are determined and then their seismic performance is assessed through nonlinear time history analysis using an expanded suite of ground motions. The seismic responses and associated ground motions are described and analyzed using probabilistic seismic demand models (PSDMs). Based on the PSDMs, the effectiveness and practicality of common intensity measures are discussed for different components. Correlation of intensity measures and seismic responses are then estimated for each component, and their seismic performance and uncertainties are quantified in terms of engineering demand parameters. The results of this study are intended for use in the seismic vulnerability assessment of essential electrical equipment in order to achieve more reliable electrical power systems resulting in reduced overall risk of both physical and operational failures of this important class of nonstructural components.

Earthquake triggered landslides cause loss of life, destroy structures, roads, powerlines, and pipelines and therefore they have a direct impact on the social and economic life of the hazard region. The damage and fatalities directly related to strong ground shaking and fault rupture are sometimes exceeded by the damage and fatalities caused by earthquake triggered landslides. Even though future earthquakes can hardly be predicted, the identification of areas that are highly susceptible to landslide hazards is possible. For geographical information systems (GIS) based deterministic slope stability and earthquake-induced landslide analysis, the grid-cell approach has been commonly used in conjunction with the relatively simple infinite slope model. The infinite slope model together with Newmark's displacement analysis has been widely used to create seismic landslide susceptibility maps. The infinite slope model gives reliable results in the case of surficial landslides with depth-length ratios smaller than 0.1. On the other hand, the infinite slope model cannot satisfactorily analyze deep-seated coherent landslides. In reality, coherent landslides are common and these types of landslides are a major cause of property damage and fatalities. In the case of coherent landslides, two- or three-dimensional models are required to accurately analyze both static and dynamic performance of slopes. These models are rarely used in GIS-based landslide hazard zonation because they are numerically expensive compared to one dimensional infinite slope models. Building metamodels based on data obtained from computer experiments and using computationally inexpensive predictions based on these metamodels has been widely used in several engineering applications. With these soft computing methods, design variables are carefully chosen using a design of experiments (DOE) methodology to cover a predetermined range of values and computer experiments are performed at these chosen points. The design variables and the responses from the computer simulations are then combined to construct functional relationships (metamodels) between the inputs and the outputs. In this study, Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are used to predict the static and seismic responses of slopes. In order to integrate the soft computing methods with GIS for coherent landslide hazard analysis, an automatic slope profile delineation method from Digital Elevation Models is developed. The integrated framework is evaluated using a case study of the 1989 Loma Prieta, CA earthquake (Mw = 6.9). A seismic landslide hazard analysis is also performed for the same region for a future scenario earthquake (Mw = 7.03) on the San Andreas Fault.

The seismic behavior of port container cranes has been largely ignored-by owners, operators, engineers, and code officials alike. This is despite their importance to daily port operations, where historical evidence suggests that port operational downtime following a seismic event can have a crippling effect on the affected local, regional, and national economies. Because the replacement time in the event of crane collapse can be a year or more, crane collapse has the potential to be the "critical path" for post-disaster port recovery. Since the 1960's, crane designers allowed and encouraged an uplift response from container cranes, assuming that this uplift would provide a "safety valve" for seismic loading; i.e. the structural response at the onset of uplift was assumed to be the maximum structural response. However, cranes have grown much larger and more stable such that the port industry is now beginning to question the seismic performance of their modern jumbo container cranes. This research takes a step back, and reconsiders the effect that uplift response has on the seismic demand of portal-frame structures such as container cranes. A theoretical estimation is derived which accounts for the uplift behavior, and finds that the "safety valve" design assumption can be unconservative. The resulting portal uplift theory is verified with complex finite element models and experimental shake-table testing of a scaled example container crane. Using the verified models, fragility curves and downtime estimates are developed which characterize the risk of crane damage and operational downtime for three representative container cranes subjected to a range of earthquakes. This research demonstrates that container cranes designed using previous and current standards can significantly contribute to port seismic vulnerability. Lastly, performance-based design recommendations are provided which encourage the comparison of demand and capacity in terms of the critical portal deformation, using the derived portal uplift theory to estimate seismic deformation demand.

Serving as critical gateways for international trade, seaports are pivotal elements in transportation networks. Any disruption in the activities of port infrastructures may lead to significant losses from secondary economic effects, and can hamper the response and recovery efforts following a natural disaster. Particularly poignant examples which revealed the significance of port operations were the 1995 Kobe earthquake and 2010 Haiti earthquake in which liquefaction and lateral spreading of embankments imposed severe damage to both structural and non-structural components of ports. Since container wharf structures are responsible for loading and unloading of cargo, it is essential to understand the performance of these structures during earthquakes. Although previous studies have provided insight into some aspects of the seismic response of wharves, limitations in the modeling of wharf structures and the surrounding soil media have constrained the understanding of various features of the wharf response. This research provides new insights into the seismic behavior of wharves by using new and advanced structure and soil modeling procedures to carry out two and three-dimensional seismic analyses of a pile-supported marginal wharf structure in liquefiable soils. Furthermore, this research investigates the interaction between cranes and wharves and closely assesses the role of wharf-crane interaction on the response of each of these systems. For this purpose, the specific effect of wharf-crane interaction is studied by incorporating advanced models of the crane with sliding/uplift base conditions. To reduce the computational time required for three-dimensional nonlinear dynamic analysis of the wharf in order to be applicable for probabilistic seismic demand analysis, a simplified wharf model and an analysis technique are introduced and verified. In the next step probabilistic seismic demand models (PSDMs) are generated by imposing the wharf models to a suit of ground deformations of the soil embankment and pore water pressure generated for this study through free-field analysis. Convolving PSDMs and the limit states, a set of fragility curves are developed for critical wharf components whose damage induces a disruption in the normal operation of ports. The developed fragility curves provide decision makers with essential tools for maximizing investment in wharf retrofit and fill a major gap in seismic risk assessment of seaports which can be used to assess the regional impact of the damage to wharves during a natural hazard event.

Earthquakes are among the most devastating and unpredictable of natural hazards that affect civil infrastructure and have the potential for causing numerous casualties and significant economic losses over large areas. Every region that has the potential for great earthquakes should have an integrated plan for a seismic design and risk mitigation for civil infrastructure. This plan should include methods for estimating the vulnerability of building inventories and for forecasting economic losses resulting from future events. This study describes a methodology to assess risk to distributed civil infrastructure due to large-scale natural hazards with large geographical footprints, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, and provides a detailed analysis and assessment of building losses due to earthquake. The distinguishing feature of this research, in contrast to previous loss estimation methods incorporated in systems such as HAZUS-MH, is that it considers the correlation in stochastic demand on building inventories due to the hazard, as well as correlation in building response and damage due to common materials, construction technologies, codes and code enforcement. These sources of correlation have been neglected, for the most part, in previous research. The present study has revealed that the neglect of these sources of correlation leads to an underestimation of the estimates of variance in loss and in the probable maximum loss (PML) used as a basis for underwriting risks. The methodology is illustrated with a seismic risk assessment of building inventories representing different occupancy classes in Shelby County, TN, considering both scenario earthquakes and earthquakes specified probabilistically. It is shown that losses to building inventories estimated under the common assumption that the individual losses can be treated as statistically independent may underestimate the PML by a factor of range from 1.7 to 3.0, depending on which structural and nonstructural elements are included in the assessment. A sensitivity analysis reveals the statistics and sources of correlation that are most significant for loss estimation, and points the way forward for supporting data acquisition and synthesis.

Seismic hazard and microzonation of cities enable to characterize the potential seismic areas that need to be taken into account when designing new structures or retrofitting the existing ones. Study of seismic hazard and preparation of geotechnical microzonation maps will provide an effective solution for city planning and input to earthquake resistant design of structures in an area. Seismic hazard is the study of expected earthquake ground motions at any point on the earth. Microzonation is the process of sub division of region in to number of zones based on the earthquake effects in the local scale. Seismic microzonation is the process of estimating response of soil layers under earthquake excitation and thus the variation of ground motion characteristic on the ground surface. Geotechnical site characterization and assessment of site response during earthquakes is one of the crucial phases of seismic microzonation with respect to ground shaking intensity, attenuation, amplification rating and liquefaction susceptibility. Microzonation mapping of seismic hazards can be expressed in relative or absolute terms, on an urban block-by-block scale, based on local soil conditions (such as soil types) that affect ground shaking levels or vulnerability to soil liquefaction. Such maps would provide general guidelines for integrated planning of cities and in positioning the types of new structures that are most suited to an area, along with information on the relative damage potential of the existing structures in a region. In the present study an attempt has been made to characterize the site and to study the seismic hazard analysis considering the local site effects and to develop microzonation maps for Bangalore. Seismic hazard analysis and microzonation of Bangalore is addressed in this study in three parts: In the first part, estimation of seismic hazard using seismotectonic and geological information. Second part deals about site characterization using geotechnical and shallow geophysical techniques. An area of 220 sq.km, encompassing Bangalore Municipal Corporation has been chosen as the study area in this part of the investigation. There were over 150 lakes, though most of them are dried up due to erosion and encroachments leaving only 64 at present in an area of 220 sq. km and emphasizing the need to study site effects. In the last part, local site effects are assessed by carrying out one-dimensional (1-D) ground response analysis (using the program SHAKE 2000) using both borehole SPT data and shear wave velocity survey data within an area of 220 sq. km. Further, field experiments using microtremor studies have also been carried out (jointly with NGRI) for evaluation of predominant frequency of the soil columns. The same has been assessed using 1-D ground response analysis and compared with microtremor results. Further, Seed and Idriss simplified approach has been adopted to evaluate the liquefaction susceptibility and liquefaction resistance assessment. Microzonation maps have been prepared for Bangalore city covering 220 sq. km area on a scale of 1:20000. Deterministic Seismic Hazard Analysis (DSHA) for Bangalore has been carried out by considering the past earthquakes, assumed subsurface fault rupture lengths and point source synthetic ground motion model. The seismic sources for region have been collected by considering seismotectonic atlas map of India and lineaments identified from satellite remote sensing images. Analysis of lineaments and faults help in understanding the regional seismotectonic activity of the area. Maximum Credible Earthquake (MCE) has been determined by considering the regional seismotectonic activity in about 350 km radius around Bangalore. Earthquake data are collected from United State Geological Survey (USGS), Indian Metrological Department (IMD), New Delhi; Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Amateur Seismic Centre (ASC), National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI),Hyderabad; Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS), Akkulam, Kerala; Gauribindanur (GB) Seismic station and other public domain sites. Source magnitude for each source is chosen from the maximum reported past earthquake close to that source and shortest distance from each source to Bangalore is arrived from the newly prepared seismotectonic map of the area. Using these details, and, attenuation relation developed for southern India by Iyengar and Raghukanth (2004), the peak ground acceleration (PGA) has been estimated. A parametric study has been carried out to find fault subsurface rupture length using past earthquake data and Wells and Coppersmith (1994) relation between the subsurface lengths versus earthquake magnitudes. Further seismological model developed by Boore (1983, 2003) SMSIM program has been used to generate synthetic ground motions from vulnerable sources identified in above two methods. From the above three approaches maximum PGA of 0.15g was estimated for Bangalore. This value was obtained for a maximum credible earthquake (MCE) having a moment magnitude of 5.1 from a source of Mandya-Channapatna-Bangalore lineament. Considering this lineament and MCE, a synthetic ground motion has been generated for 850 borehole locations and they are used to prepare PGA map at rock level. The past seismic data has been collected for almost 200 years from different sources such as IMD, BARC (Gauribidanur array), NGRI, CESS, ASC center, USGS, and other public domain data. The seismic data is seen to be homogenous for the last four decades irrespective of the magnitude. Seismic parameters were then evaluated using the data corresponding to the last four decades and also the mixed data (using Kijko’s analysis) for Bangalore region, which are found to be comparable with the earlier reported seismic parameters for south India. The probabilities of distance, magnitude and peak ground acceleration have been evaluated for the six most vulnerable sources using PSHA (Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis). The mean annual rate of exceedance has been calculated for all the six sources at the rock level. The cumulative probability hazard curves have been generated at the bedrock level for peak ground acceleration and spectral acceleration. The spectral acceleration calculation corresponding to a period of 1sec and 5% damping are evaluated. For the design of structures, uniform hazard response spectrum (UHRS) at rock level is developed for the 5% damping corresponding to 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years. The peak ground acceleration (PGA) values corresponding to 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years are comparable to the PGA values obtained in deterministic seismic hazard analysis (DSHA) and higher than Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program (GSHAP) maps of Bhatia et.al (1997) for the Indian shield area. The 3-D subsurface model with geotechnical data has been generated for site characterization of Bangalore. The base map of Bangalore city (220sq.km) with several layers of information (such as Outer and Administrative boundaries, Contours, Highways, Major roads, Minor roads, Streets, Rail roads, Water bodies, Drains, Landmarks and Borehole locations) has been generated. GIS database for collating and synthesizing geotechnical data available with different sources and 3-dimensional view of soil stratum presenting various geotechnical parameters with depth in appropriate format has been developed. In the context of prediction of reduced level of rock (called as “engineering rock depth” corresponding to about Vs > 700 m/sec) in the subsurface of Bangalore and their spatial variability evaluated using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Observed SPT ‘N’ values are corrected by applying necessary corrections, which can be used for engineering studies such as site response and liquefaction analysis. Site characterization has also been carried out using measured shear wave velocity with the help of shear wave velocity survey using MASW. MASW (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave) is a geophysical method, which generates a shear-wave velocity (Vs) profile (i.e., Vs versus depth) by analyzing Raleigh-type surface waves on a multichannel record. MASW system consisting of 24 channels Geode seismograph with 24 geophones of 4.5 Hz capacity were used in this investigation. The shear wave velocity of Bangalore subsurface soil has been measured and correlation has been developed for shear wave velocity (Vs) with the standard penetration tests (SPT) corrected ‘N’ values. About 58 one-dimensional (1-D) MASW surveys and 20 two-dimensional (2-D) MASW surveys has been carried out with in 220 sq.km Bangalore urban area. Dispersion curves and shear velocity 1-D and 2-D have been evaluated using SurfSeis software. Using 1-dimensional shear wave velocity, the average shear wave velocity of Bangalore soil has been evaluated for depths of 5m, 10m, 15m, 20m, 25m and 30m (Vs30) depths. The sub soil classification has been carried out for local site effect evaluation based on average shear wave velocity of 30m depth (Vs30) of sites using NEHRP (National Earthquake Hazard Research Programme) and IBC (International Building Code) classification. Bangalore falls into site class D type of soil. Mapping clearly indicates that the depth of soil obtained from MASW is closely matching with the soil layers in the bore logs. The measured shear wave velocity at 38 locations close to SPT boreholes, which are used to generate the correlation between the shear wave velocity and corrected ‘N’ values using a power fit. Also, developed relationship between shear wave velocity and corrected ‘N’ values corresponds well with the published relationships of Japan Road Association. Bangalore city, a fast growing urban center, with low to moderate earthquake history and highly altered soil structure (due to large reclamation of land) is been the focus of this work. There were over 150 lakes, though most of them are dried up due to erosion and encroachments leaving only 64 at present in an area of 220 sq km. In the present study, an attempt has been made to assess the site response using geotechnical, geophysical data and field studies. The subsurface profiles of the study area within 220sq.km area was represented by 170 geotechnical bore logs and 58 shear wave velocity profiles obtained by MASW survey. The data from these geotechnical and geophysical technique have been used to study the site response. These soil properties and synthetic ground motions for each borehole locations are further used to study the local site effects by conducting one-dimensional ground response analysis using the program SHAKE2000. The response and amplification spectrum have been evaluated for each layer of borehole location. The natural period of the soil column, peak spectral acceleration and frequency at peak spectral acceleration of each borehole has been evaluated and presented as maps. Predominant frequency obtained from both methods is compared; the correlation between corrected SPT ‘N’ value and low strain shear modulus has been generated. The noise was recorded at 54 different locations in 220sq.km area of Bangalore city using L4-3D short period sensors (CMG3T) equipped with digital data acquisition system. Predominant frequency obtained from ground response studies and microtremor measurement is comparable. To study the liquefaction hazard in Bangalore, the liquefaction hazard assessment has been carried out using standard penetration test (SPT) data and soil properties. Factor of Safety against liquefaction of soil layer has been evaluated based on the simplified procedure of Seed and Idriss (1971) and subsequent revisions of Seed et al (1983, 1985), Youd et al (2001) and Cetin et al (2004). Cyclic Stress Ratio (CSR) resulting from earthquake loading is calculated by considering moment magnitude of 5.1 and amplified peak ground acceleration. Cyclic Resistant Ratio (CRR) is arrived using the corrected SPT ‘N’ values and soil properties. Factor of safety against liquefaction is calculated using stress ratios and accounting necessary magnitude scaling factor for maximum credible earthquake. A simple spread sheet was developed to carryout the calculation for each bore log. The factor of safety against liquefaction is grouped together for the purpose of classification of Bangalore (220 sq. km) area for a liquefaction hazards. Using 2-D base map of Bangalore city, the liquefaction hazard map was prepared using AutoCAD and Arc GIS packages. The results are grouped as four groups for mapping and presented in the form of 2-dimensional maps. Liquefaction possibilities are also assessed conducting laboratory cyclic triaxial test using undisturbed soil samples collected at few locations.

Earthquake is undoubtedly one of the greatest natural disasters that can induce serious structural damage and huge losses of properties and lives. The resulting destructive consequences not only have made structural seismic analysis and design much more important but have impelled the necessity of more realistic representation of ground motions, such as inclusion of ground motion spatial variations in earthquake modelling and seismic analysis and design of structures. Recorded seismic ground motions exhibit spatial variations in their amplitudes and phases, and the spatial variabilities have an important effect on the responses of structures extended in space, such as long span bridges. Because of the multi-parametric nature and the complexity of the problems, the development of specific design provisions on spatial variabilities of ground motions in modern seismic codes has been impeded. Eurocode 8 is currently the only seismic standard worldwide that gives a set of detailed guidelines to explicitly tackle spatial variabilities of ground motions in bridge design, providing both a simplified design scheme and an analytical approach. However, there is gap between the code-specified provisions in Eurocode 8 and the realistic representation of spatially varying ground motions (SVGM) and the corresponding stochastic vibration analysis (SVA) approaches. This study is devoted to bridge this gap on modelling of SVGM and development of SVA approaches for structures extended in space under SVGM. A complete and realistic SVGM representation approach is developed by accounting for the incoherence effect, wave-passage effect, site-response effect, ground motion nonstationarity, tridirectionality, and spectra-compatibility. This effort brings together various aspects regarding rational seismic scenarios determination, comprehensive methods of accounting for varying site effects, conditional modelling of SVGM nonstationarity, and code-specified ground motion spectra-compatibility. A comprehensive, systematic, and efficient SVA methodology is derived for long span structures under tridirectional nonstationary SVGM. An absolute-response-oriented scheme of pseudo-excitation method and an improved high precision direct integration method are proposed to reduce the enormous computational effort of conventional nonstationary SVA. A scheme accounting for tridirectional varying site-response effect is incorporated in the nonstationary SVA scheme systematically. The proposed highly efficient and accurate SVA approach is implemented and verified in a general finite element analysis platform to make it readily applicable in SVA of complex structures. Based on the proposed SVA approach, parametric studies of two practical long span bridges under SVGM are conducted. To account for spatial randomness and variability of soil properties in soil-structure interaction analysis of structures under SVGM, a meshfree-Galerkin approach is proposed within the Karhunen-Loeve expansion scheme for representation of spatial soil properties modelled as a random field. The meshfree shape functions are proposed as a set of basis functions in the Galerkin scheme to solve integral equation of Karhunen-Loeve expansion, with a proposed optimization scheme in treating the compatibility between the target and analytical covariance models. The accuracy and validity of the meshfree-Galerkin scheme are assessed and demonstrated by representation of covariance models for various homogeneous and nonhomogeneous spatial fields. The developed modelling approaches of SVGM and the derived analytical SVA approaches can be applied to provide more refined solutions for quantitatively assessing code-specified design provisions and developing new design provisions. The proposed meshfree-Galerkin approach can be used to account for spatial randomness and variability of soil properties in soil-structure interaction analysis.