Wenchuan Earthquake Reconnaissance

    The Wenchuan or Sichuan Earthquake that occurred May 12, 2008 damaged thousands of building and bridge structures and resulted in many causalities.  Invited by the Ministry of Communications in China, the MAE Center recently joined a field reconnaissance mission to the area led by the United States Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).  The field mission, beginning July 20 and ending on July 25, was established to specifically investigate and collect information on the performance of bridge and other highway structures during the M7.9 earthquake.  The mission included three days of field work guided by the Ministry of Communications and the Sichuan Province Communications Department Highway Planning, Survey, and Research Institute.  The final day of the mission included meetings between the field team and its Chinese colleagues discussing lessons learned from the event and future collaboration. 

    Picture below:  The reconnaissance team and its Chinese colleagues.  From left; Genda Chen, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Guo Xiao Dong, Sichuan Province Communications Department Highway Planning, Survey, Design, and Research Institute; Mark Yashinsky, California Department of Transportation, Phillip Yen, Federal Highway Administration; Kehai Wang, Research Institute of Highway-Ministry of Communications; and Curtis Holub, Mid-America Earthquake Center.  Not pictured is Youssef Hashash, University of Illinois. 

    Pictured below:  The reconnaissance team inspects a collapsed span of the Miaozhiping Bridge which was under construction near the town of Yingxui when the earthquake struck.  Photo taken by Youssef Hashash. 

    Curtis Holub joined the site investigation team at the end of a two-week visit to the Institute of Engineering Mechanics, Harbin, where he and Hussam Mahmoud worked on setting up two impressive distributed tests that combine specimens testing on line at the same time in Illinois and in Harbin. Hussam is focusing on steel beam-to-column connections, while Curtis is working on reinforced concrete bridge piers