EVALUATION OF SEISMIC DESIGN METHODOLOGIES IN TURKEY

Dr. -Eng. Mete Gercek Abstract Destructive earthquakes that occured on 17 August 1999 and 12 November 1999 at North Anatolian Fault of Turkey have been a milestone in seismic resistant design of structures. Although there were national regulations and codes on seismic resistant design of buildings prior to 1999, the conformance to the regulations and codes became much more stringent after 1999 earthquakes. After observing widespread structural damages due to near-fault effects and liquefaction, site specific seismic hazard analyses and geotechnical site response analyses have been utilized very frequently in seismic evaluation of important structures. Performance based design methologies have been used in condition assessment, seismic retrofitting and new structural designs. To alleviate seismic vulnerability of important structures, usage of energy dissipation devices has increased rapidly in recent years. A national code on performance based design of structures was published in August 2007. Similarly, a national code on design of seismically isolated structures was published in May 2008. The two codes are in use at the moment.

-----------------------------------------------------Dr. Eng. Mete Gercek, IABSE 257087, WG7 Member, Address : Smbl Str. 19 , Levent, TR - 34330 , Besiktas , Istanbul, Trkiye. E-mail: mtgercek@uyduent.net ; meteger@gmail.com Mobile : +90 532 241 55 79 Contrubitory : Dr. Eng. Cenan zkaya , Ankara , Trkiye