Graduate Program of Earthquake Studies
Head of Department: Prof.Dr. AYŞEGÜL ASKAN GÜNDOĞAN
Web address: http://ess.metu.edu.tr/
M.S. with thesis in Earthquake Studies
The Earthquake Studies Program aims to foster interdisciplinary teaching and research related to natural, man-made and technological disasters. Earthquake Engineering and Active Tectonics Tracks focus on particularly in the area of earthquakes. Disaster Management Track focuses on implementations of various disasters. Turkey lies in one of the most active earthquake zones of the world. Furthermore, due to the negative effects of low-quality building in urban areas, Turkey is one of the countries with high risk in terms of earthquakes and disasters. In earthquakes affecting urban areas within the last ten years, more than 20,000 persons have lost lives along with a property losses exceeding 20 billion US dollars. These losses have a major negative impact in Turkey's economic development. The reduction of high seismic risk in earthquake-prone cities to acceptable levels is possible with the implementation of unified projects involving all disaster-related disciplines.
For the mitigation of earthquake losses, it is necessary to ensure that the disciplines of earth sciences (geology, seismology), earthquake engineering, architecture, risk-based urban planning, statistics, economics, business administration, environmental and industrial engineering and communal psychology/sociology be made to work together. In both developed and developing countries of the world, there are no cities that face as high an earthquake risk as that of Turkey. The reason for the high risk lies not only in the great danger due to earthquakes but also in the fact that the building stock is of poor quality. This is why Turkey provides the most effective application area for multidisciplinary studies related to earthquakes.
Mission: To coordinate integrated interdisciplinary research regarding earthquakes and to enhance the transfer of knowledge and data to the public and private sectors.
Vision:
| Course Code | Course Name | METU Credit | Contact (h/w) | Lab (h/w) | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CE518 | RESEARCH METHODS AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN CIVIL ENGINEERING | 3 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 8.0 |
| CE529 | STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS | 3 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 8.0 |
| EQS500 | M.S. THESIS | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 50.0 |
| EQS501 | EARTHQUAKE DISASTER POLICIES | 3 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 8.0 |
| EQS503 | SEISMOLOGY | 3 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 8.0 |
| EQS590 | SEMINAR | 0 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 10.0 |
4 elective course(s) approved by the Department of Earthquake Studies.
Total minimum credit (ECTS): 24.00
h/w: hours per week
Elective Course Category Description
Restricted Elective Courses of Earthquake Engineering Track
CE 529 STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS (3-0)3 Dynamic disturbances. Single and multi-degree of freedom systems. Continuous systems. Equations of motion. Energy methods in structural dynamics. Application in structural design. Earthquake response of structures.
CE 5601 GEOTECHNICAL EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING (3-0)3 A brief review of seismicity, fault-rupture mechanisms, and fundamentals of vibrations. Discussion of attenuation relationships, design motions and influence of soil behavior on ground shaking characteristics. Methods of analyzing seismic site response. Soil liquefaction phenomena and methods to predict seismic coil liquefaction initiation. Use of in- situ index tests in the estimation of seismic liquefaction risk. Seismic performance of slopes and earth structures and soil-structure interaction effects.
Restricted Elective Courses of Disaster Management Track
CP 562 URBAN RISKS AND PLANNING (2-2)3 Risk analyses in different disciplines; Cities and risk society; Natural and technological hazards in the urban environment; International, national, local level policies in risk management; Vulnerabilities and risk sectors in urban systems; Social, institutional, individual perceptions of risks; Forms of planning related to disaster policies; Local and city-level risk management approaches; Analysis of emergency conduct; Forms of ‘contingency’ and ‘mitigation’ planning; Spatial and non-spatial tools in mitigation implementation.
Restricted Elective Courses of Active TectonicsTrack
CE 5603 SEISMIC HAZARD ASSESSMENT (3-0)3 A brief of probability concepts, and epistemic and aleatory uncertainties. Deterministic vs. probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. Source characterization and attenuation relationships. Hazard computer code: deaggregation of hazard. Development of design spectra: equal hazard spectra, directivity and basin effects. Design of time histories: scaling vs. spectrum compatibility. Numerical simulation methods for time histories.
GEOE 501 GLOBAL TECTONICS (3-0)3 Plate tectonics theory. Its principles, processes and mechanism. Geological processes taking place on and around major tectonic features of the Earth's crust and processes of major tectonic events such as continental break-up, arc-continent and continent-continent collision.
GEOE 621 NEOTECTONICS (3-0)3 Active tectonics. Investigation of active faults. Active tectonic regimes and related neotectonic structures. Neotectonical depositional settings and sedimentation. Rifting. Future Earth's movements and neotectonical synthesis of eastern Mediterranean and Turkey.