Preliminary identification of earthquake triggered multi-hazard and risk in Pleret Sub-District (Yogyakarta,Indonesia)

Yogyakarta is one of the large cities in Central Java, located on Java Island, Indonesia. The city, and the Pleret sub-district, where the study has taken place, is prone to earthquake hazards, because it is close to several seismically active zones, such as the Sunda Megathrust and the active fault known as the Opak Fault. Since a devastating earthquake of 2006, the population of the Pleret sub-district has increased significantly. Thus, the housing demand has increased, and so is the pace of low-cost housing that does not meet earthquake-safety requirements, and furthermore are often located on unstable slopes. The local alluvial material covering a jigsaw of unstable blocks and complex slope is conditions that can amplify the negative impacts of earthquakes. Within this context, this study is aiming to assess the multi-hazards and risks of earthquakes and related secondary hazards such as ground liquefaction, and coseismic landslides. To achieve this, we used geographic information systems and remote sensing methods supplemented with outcrop study and existing seismic data to derive shear-strain parameters. The results have revealed the presence of numerous uncharted active faults with movements visible from imagery and outcrops. show that the middle part of the study area has a complex geological structure, indicated by many unchartered faults in the outcrops. Using this newly mapped blocks combined with shear strain data, we reassessed the collapse probability of buildings that reach level >0.75 near the Opak River, in central Pleret sub-district. Classifying the buildings and from population distribution, we could determine that the highest risk was during nighttime as the buildings susceptible to fall are predominantly housing buildings. The secondary hazards follow a slightly different distribution with a concentration of risks in the West.     

An optimization on machine learning algorithms for mapping snow avalanche susceptibility

Natural Hazards - Mapping avalanche-prone areas to mitigate damages is important and vital for safety and development planning. New hybrid models are introduced for snow avalanche susceptibility...     

Smart restorable sliding base isolation system

A modern base isolation system is proposed for the aseismic control of structures. It is composed of steel-Teflon Flat Sliding Bearings, to support the gravity loads while allowing large horizontal displacements, and simply connected Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) truss elements, to provide the necessary horizontal stiffness as well as a proper restoring capability. The system is referred to as Smart Restorable Sliding Base Isolation System (SRSBIS). Depending on the arrangement of the auxiliary SMA elements, SRSBIS can exhibit a geometric nonlinearity in addition to the nonlinearity of materials. In this paper, the dynamic characteristics of SRSBIS are first examined in terms of the force-displacement behavior, effective period of vibration, and equivalent damping. After that, the earthquake response of buildings equipped with SRSBIS, designed in accordance with a direct displacement-based approach, is evaluated through extensive nonlinear time-history analyses. The effects of the design parameters on the system behavior are then investigated within a comprehensive parametric study and the seismic performances of SRSBIS are finally compared to those of similar practical isolation systems. Based on the results, it is shown that SRSBIS can be suitably used for the seismic protection of structures.