This course ranges from the earth structure, the generation of earthquakes and seismic waves by faults to the seismic response of soils, foundations and structures as well as seismic risk. It is consequently aimed at undergraduates, graduates and professionals interested in engineering seismology, earthquake engineering or seismic risk. It investigates various technical fields: rock mechanics, soil dynamics, structural dynamics and dynamic soil-structure interaction.
Various types of sessions are proposed: regular sessions describing a phenomenon or explaining its basic principles, lab sessions illustrating concepts through simple experiments (fault motion, liquefaction, resonant column tests, shaking table tests) and research topics focusing on advanced topics from various research fields (e.g. magnet-Earth, seismicity of Mars, seismic sensors, probabilistic approaches). Several quizzes, as well as 3 mini-projects, will allow you to check your knowledge and assess your understanding of the various topics.
A teaser video presentation of the open online course provided by E-learning Polytechnique can be watched below.
Enroll for the Seismology to Earthquake Engineering online course, for free, here!
Instructors
- Jean-Francois Semblat: Professor at ENSTA-Paris near Paris. His main fields of interest are wave propagation (in mechanics and seismology), dynamic soil-structure interaction, earthquake engineering and numerical modelling (FEM, BEM). He teaches seismology, soil dynamics, structural dynamics and numerical methods at ENSTA-Paris, Ecole Polytechnique, Ecole des Ponts-ParisTech and University of Pavia.
- Cédric Giry: Associate professor at the Ecole normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, in the Civil Engineering Departement. He develops his research activities at LMT (Laboratoire de Mécanique et Technologie) on the analysis of civil engineering structures subjected to static and severe loadings (earthquake). He teaches at ENS Paris-Saclay on several topics link to its research interests: vibrations and waves, structural mechanics, earthquake engineering, numerical methods, thermodynamical framework for the material behavior, material behavior and finite element methods.
- Benjamin Richard: Head of the Structural Performance Analysis and Modeling Lab at the Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute (IRSN). He was a research engineer working at the French Sustainable Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) since October 2011 up to July 2018. He is interested in the numerical prediction of the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete structures dedicated to either civil engineering or nuclear engineering. He promotes the use of probabilistic approaches in risk assessment and vulnerability studies. Benjamin Richard is also a lecturer at Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris Saclay. He teaches the course entitled "seismic design of reinforced concrete and steel structures" to graduate students.
École Polytechnique
École Polytechnique combines research, teaching and innovation at the highest scientific and technological level worldwide to meet the challenges of the 21st century. At the forefront of French engineering schools for more than 200 years, its education promotes a culture of multidisciplinary scientific excellence, open in a strong humanist tradition.