Short Course on Seismic Design of Bridges

A five day Short Course on Seismic Design of Bridges (22-26 November 2004) for practicing engineers and faculty members from across the country is being conducted at IIT Kanpur. About seventy five engineers including eight faculty members (one faculty member from BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh) are participating in this short course.

The course was inaugurated by Professor Kripa Shanker, Deputy Director, IIT Kanpur. Professor Kripa Shanker in his inaugural speech commended the good work being done by the group of faculty members in earthquake engineering under the leadership of Professor Sudhir K. Jain. He welcomed the participants and invited them to interact with faculty members of IIT Kanpur who have expertise in various areas of research other than earthquake engineering.

Mr. Mahesh C. Tandon, INAE Distinguished Professor and Managing Director, Tandon Consultants Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, in his presidential remarks informed the participants about the unique opportunity being provided by the IIT Kanpur to understand the concepts of earthquake resistance design of bridges. He told that there are several misconceptions among the practicing engineers regarding the seismic design of structures especially bridges and this short course will be able to provide the guidance to clear the misconceptions. Mr. Tandon praised the efforts of group of faculty members at IIT Kanpur in making the silent revolution in the area of seismic design of structures.

Professor Sudhir K. Jain, one of the coordinator of this course stressed on the need of upgrading the existing design codes for bridges. He encouraged the participants to get involved in the discussions during the course and ask them to put forth the problems being faced by them in practicing the design of bridges to get the maximum benefit from this short course.

Professor Bithin Datta, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Kanpur in his address informed about the leadership taken by the civil engineering department through the National Programme of Earthquake Engineering Education (NPEEE) and the National Information Centre of Earthquake Engineering (NICEE) at IIT Kanpur. He asked the participants to take full advantage of their stay at IIT Kanpur through interaction with faculty members from other groups in the department.