The International Association for Structural Control
The IASC was formed as a nonprofit California Corporation in the summer of 1994 as a consequence of decisions made at the Tenth World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Madrid, 1992. Two Workshops on Structural Control have been held so far, one in Los Angeles and one in Honolulu. A Workshop has also been held in Japan and an International Workshop is planned by Japan for 1996. The First World Conference on Structural Control was held in Los Angeles in August 1994 and the Second World Conference will be held in Japan in 1998.
As defined by IASC, structural control means the reduction of undesirable displacements or forces in buildings, bridges and other structures that are generated by earthquakes, winds, and man-made excitations. The focus on controlling the motions of actual structures distinguishes structural control from "control theory" as developed and used in mechanical engineering, space engineering, applied mechanics, and electrical engineering. Those primarily interested in structural control are in civil engineering and in applied mechanics. A number of actual applications of structural control applied to buildings have been made in Japan and the United States. These include base-isolation in which the structure is supported on flexible mounts which reduce earthquake forces; a variety of different methods of control have been applied to reduce undesirable building motions generated by moderate winds to achieve tenant comfort.
The First World Conference on Structural Control was attended by 250 participants. The largest number were from the U.S., the second largest number were from Japan, and ten other countries had a small number of participants. The United States and Japan are the major players in structural control because of the severe earthquake problem each has. However, it is expected that most other seismic countries will develop an interest. Even non-seismic countries like England, France, Germany have an interest in structural control because their engineering/construction companies do work in seismic countries.
Beginning five years ago a U.S. Panel on Structural Control was organized and funded by the National Science Foundation, with Professor George Housner as Chairman and Professor Sami Masri as Co-Chairman. A corresponding Panel on Structural Control was organized in Japan by the Japan Science Council with Professor Takuji Kobori as Chairman. The two Panels cooperate on problems of structural control.
The current Officers and Members of the Board of Directors of IASC are:
PRESIDENTGeorge W. Housner VICE PRESIDENT
Takuji Kobori SECRETARY/TREASURER
Sami F. Masri BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Fabio Casciati (Italy)
Jay Chen (Hong Kong)
Hirokazu Lemura (Japan)
Heki Shibata (Japan)
Tsu T. Soong (USA)
Li-Li Xie (China)
Department of Civil Engineering
Phone: (213) 740-0602
FAX: (213) 744-1426
email: masri@vivian2.usc.edu
