A seminar on earthquake-resistant construction was held in Almaty/ On January 18, the seminar “Engineering surveys, design and construction of earthquake-resistant buildings and structures” ended in Kazakhstan. The event was held in Almaty for the first time!

More than 60 participants, representatives of Russian and Kazakh enterprises, gathered in the auditorium of the International Educational Corporation. Among them are the heads and specialists of KazNIISA, Almatygeocenter LLP, Fastcon, BAZIS–A Corp. LLP, Atlant Anker System LLP (Atlant Anker System), PENOPLEX SPb, Delta Drilling Company, New Ground, FSBI VNII GOCHS (FC) of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan, L.N. Gumilev Eurasian National University, V. A. Kucherenko Central Research Institute, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov”, TSGNEO — branch of JSC “Institute Gidroproekt”.
“The seminar became a new point of development for us – this year we held it for the first time in Almaty, in a city where the topic of seismic stability of buildings is as relevant and important as possible. We have tried to gather the best experts in one place in order to study the problem and talk about the latest technologies and materials that can and should be used to avoid catastrophic destruction of buildings and ensure the safety of people. The seminar turned out to be rich and useful! – noted Ekaterina Dubrovskaya, General Director of the International Association of Foundation Builders. – We will continue our work on this topic next year, but for now we invite everyone to take part in our next seminar on the new topic “Development of underground space in dense urban areas”!”.

On the first day of the seminar, the participants were waiting for reports from experts on earthquake-resistant construction.
The business program of the event began with a report on smart conical foundations in seismically hazardous areas. The work was presented by Askar Zhusupbekov, Professor, Director of the Geotechnical Institute of the L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He spoke about the conceptual model of conical foundations, laboratory and field tests, numerical modeling and analysis of loading results using various research methods.
Vitaliy Khomyakov, Head of the KazNIISA JSC sector, and a group of young specialists under his leadership raised the topical issue of methods to increase the bearing capacity of weak foundations in areas of Kazakhstan with high seismic activity. Most of the territory of Kazakhstan is formed by soils with weak mechanical properties, and therefore measures to strengthen the foundations are required during the construction of buildings. He spoke about the successful studies of the properties of soil-cement columns at experimental sites, which were carried out at KazNIISA. Thanks to the calculations made in the program, the specialists were able to confirm the effectiveness of the use of reinforcement of cement columns with more rigid materials.
His colleague, Yusuf Yemenov, Head of the Laboratory of Foundations and Foundations, seismic Microzoning of KazNIISA JSC, made a presentation on the use of structural solutions for retaining structures in seismic regions of southern Kazakhstan. He said that the use of corner or anchor walls as retaining structures plays a key role in ensuring the overall stability of the slopes. When choosing a constructive solution and evaluating the stressed and deformed state of the soil, the quality and condition of the soils used in the calculation are taken into account.
The report of Alexander Strom, Chief Specialist of the Scientific Research Institute of Energy Structures (NIIES), a branch of JSC Institute Gidroproekt, attracted great attention of the participants. His work was devoted to the influence of uncertainty in estimating the parameters of movements along active faults on engineering solutions when they are crossed by main pipelines.
The topic of methods for determining the dynamic parameters of dispersed soils was raised in his report by Anatoly Mirny, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Geology at Lomonosov Moscow State University, General Director of Independent Geotechnics LLC. He spoke about the methods of research conducted by a group of MSU scientists and what features of mechanical behavior soils exhibit under dynamic influence.
The issue of monitoring seismic risks was highlighted in his report by Gennady Nigmetov, Associate Professor, leading researcher at the Federal State Budgetary Institution of the National Research Institute of Emergency Situations of Russia. His work “Technology for monitoring individual seismic risk, taking into account the probability of possible earthquake foci and earthquake resistance of buildings” caused an active discussion. In the report, he spoke about the assessment of individual seismic risk – how it is carried out, and what its goals are, about the experience of working in dangerous seismic areas, forecasting seismic foci.
Yuri Panasenko, Head of the Expert Calculations Group at the V. A. Kucherenko Central Research Institute of Engineering and Construction, JSC, told about how and why to carry out physically nonlinear dynamic calculation of structures under seismic impacts and hypothetical local failures as part of his report.
The audience was also attracted by the report of Oleg Svetikov, senior technical specialist of PENOPLEX SPb LLC. His work was devoted to assessing the stability of PENOPLEX thermal insulation systems to seismic loads. The company’s products have been repeatedly tested in scientific centers and have proven their seismic resistance, fire resistance, biostability and resistance to climate change.
Boris Kim, Director of SSK-Project LLP, presented an interesting new SBK-SKF technology with magnetic dampers. This is a prefabricated steelless frame system with seismic-insulating kinematic foundations, which reduces the time and cost of construction, as well as reduces seismic impacts.
Svetlana Rubtsova, Project Manager at New Ground, presented her work on the application of jet grouting technology in industrial and civil construction in a remote format. The technology consists in the development of deep narrow trenches under clay mortar, followed by filling them with monolithic concrete or reinforced concrete. A wall made in this way can simultaneously be an enclosing and supporting structure of an underground structure.