Building Engineering Forum - International Conference on Earthquake Engineering

The event shall be organized by Union of Civil Engineers in Bulgaria and the Chamber of Engineers in the Investment design, region Sofia and will be held under the auspices of Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works of Bulgaria.

Bulgaria is a country of high seismic risk, and, in recent decades, it has been struck by several earthquakes. The Conference will be an opportunity to share, within the seismic engineering community, excellence in research, technology and commitment in the field of risk mitigation.

The earthquake danger and recent seismic activity on the Balkans predetermines the common problems, faced by the civil and earthquake engineers in the region and the need of exchange of experience, knowledge and ideas related to the seismic construction.

This has been the major reason that made the Chamber of Engineers in the Investment Design (KIIP), Sofia, University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG) and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences to organize time ago such professional forums on the Balkans.

The responsibility of civil engineers to reduce seismic risk is enormous. We must make joint efforts, with the support of the state and with political will, to be able to reduce the seismic risk, the damage from earthquakes and to ensure the funds needed for reconstruction work. Reducing seismic risk requires the exchange of experience and ideas.

That is why our objective is to promote international cooperation among engineers and other professionals in the broad field of earthquake engineering through interchange of knowledge, ideas, results of research and practical experience. The main objective of this Conference is to increase the qualification of the design engineers in the field of seismic design and to emphasize on the need of new integrated structural and energy design methodology. The conference also gives special emphasis to the resilience-oriented performance-based design and assessment concepts which have recently been a hot topic in world literature.

Forum Objectives

• to promote international cooperation among engineers and other  professionals in the broad field of earthquake engineering. To be exchanged experience and  best engineering practices in the implementation of EUROCOD 8 and to be discussed the  forthcoming changes in Eurocode. To contribute to enhancing the role of the engineering  profession in Europe. 
• to increase the qualification of the structural design engineers in the field  of seismic design applying the new holistic approach to the renovation of buildings aiming at  a combined improvement of energy and seismic performance. Getting acquainted with the  forthcoming changes in the legislative framework. 
• to consider the problems of anti-seismic design in strengthening,  reconstruction and renovation of the buildings declared as cultural built heritage / immovable  cultural values in order to preserve and socialize them; to raise the qualification of the  technical persons performing this activity. 

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD  

Aris Chatzidakis, ECCE President  

European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE) 

Klaus Thürriedl, ECEC President 

European Council of Engineering Chambers (ECEC) 

Artur Pinto, Head of the JRC Unit ‘Safety and security of buildings’ 

Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission 

Silvia Dimova, Deputy Head of the JRC Unit ‘Safety and security of buildings’ Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission 

Ivan Markov, Rektor of UACEG 

University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG) 

Todor Chobanov, Deputy mayor of the Municipality of Sofia 

Municipality of Sofia 

VENUE AND TYPE OF THE EVENT 

Depending on the epidemiological situation in the country, the conference will be held in  person in Sofia or in the format of a virtual hybrid conference. 

The lectures will be broadcast directly through an online platform to Bulgarian engineers and  engineers from European countries. It will be possible to ask questions online. 

The lectures will be given in Bulgarian and English with two-way simultaneous translation. 

CONFERENCE PANELS / VIRTUAL CONFERENCE PANELS 

Panel 1: Seismic risk reduction through proper design with Eurocode 8. Expected  regulatory changes. 

Panel 2: Integrated techniques for the seismic strengthening and energy efficiency of  existing buildings 

Panel 3: Anti-seismic design in strengthening, reconstruction and renovation of  buildings declared as cultural built heritage / immovable cultural values. 

PANEL DISCUSSION 

The Panel Discussion will be held in the format of a panel discussion/podium discussion, with  short introductory presentations of the Panelists and then discussion among the Panelists and  Audience.

Topics: Legislative frameworks for application of integrated techniques in  reconstruction and renovation of the building stock and of the buildings declared as  cultural built heritage / immovable cultural values; Integrated techniques for the  seismic strengthening and energy efficiency of existing building. etc