Induced Seismicity due to Gas Extraction: Dynamic Analyses for Retrofitting at Groningen

This event has been organized by Young SECED, in collaboration with the IStructE London YMG and Young KIVI Engineers.

Synopsis

In the last decade, with the pressure to increase local energy supplies by unlocking the energy potential of the ground, induced seismicity in the northern part of Europe has considerably increased. At the same time, the existing building stock in the region was not designed to sustain such seismic demands. Consequently, structural and non-structural damage in buildings has been observed. Since the induced earthquakes are caused by third parties, liability issues arise and a damage claim mechanism is activated.

Groningen, the Netherlands, is the largest on-land gas field in the world and is being exploited since 1963. Induced seismicity in Groningen, despite being characterised by low magnitude events, has led to substantial damage claims and compensation costs as well as public unrest. It is estimated that more than 80,000 damage claims have been filed to date and 1.15b € has been spent in compensations.

In this evening talk, three engineers from both industry and academia will provide insights into the structural damages observed at the Groningen province and present case studies of dynamic numerical analyses for structural assessment and retrofitting.

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Presentation titles

• Induced Seismicity in the Groningen Gas Field and its Effects on the Built Environment (D. Dais)
• Structural Assessment of Light Damage on a Historical Masonry Structure due to Induced Seismicity (D. Dais)
• mpact of Advanced Numerical Analyses on Seismic Assessments and Retrofitting Design (T. Xu)
• Fragility Functions for Unreinforced Masonry Building Typologies with Explicit Collapse Prediction (J. Dennis)

About the speakers

Dimitris Dais

Dimitris Dais is a Civil/Earthquake Engineer with hands-on experience in advanced numerical simulations and structural health monitoring and is currently working on the implementation of Artificial Intelligence solutions in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industry. Dimitris recently successfully defended his PhD where he studied the effect of induced seismicity on masonry structures in the Groningen region.

Tianqi Xu

Tianqi Xu is a structural engineer within RHDHV’s Advanced Technology and Research group, with an expertise in computational design and structural dynamics. Her work at RHDHV mainly involves numerical analysis of structures under dynamic loading, as well as developing digital tools that automate engineering processes. Since 2019, she has been working on the seismic assessment of structures at the Groningen area.

Jamie Dennis

Jamie leads Arup’s Structural Simulation team in Amsterdam and has extensive experience of seismic design and retrofit using non-linear time-history analysis. Since 2017 Jamie has supported improvements to the Groningen risk model, assessments of houses, apartment blocks, barns, historic buildings, and the development of a probabilistic analysis method.