Ana Isabel Sarkis talks about how she cultivated a passion for studying Earthquake Engineering. Ana Isabel Sarkis is a Ph.D. candidate in Earthquake Engineering at听UC Civil and Natural Resources Engineering Department.听 Her doctoral research is part of a national effort to improve the understanding of the likely听behaviour听of precast concrete floors during earthquakes.听鈥淚 am particularly interested in expanding my knowledge and skills to help developing quake-resilient communities that can recover quickly after an important seismic event.鈥, said Ana.
Ana听obtained her master鈥檚 degree in Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology from universities located in highly seismic countries such as Turkey, Greece, and Italy. During her masters, she investigated the performance听of听concrete frames with footing uplift and rocking.听
She worked as a design engineer in Costa Rica, after completing her undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering. Coming from a country located in a high seismicity region,听Ana cultivated听an early passion for studying earthquakes and dynamic of structures,听which听encouraged her to seek postgraduate studies.
鈥淐oncrete buildings represent over 80% of existing commercial buildings in New Zealand鈥檚 urban areas, and most听of these听concrete buildings have precast听concrete听floors. Assessing the likely performance of precast floors in an earthquake is a challenge because there are many unanswered questions about the potential failure mechanisms when seismic actions are transferred across the building structure.听The partial collapse of precast concrete flooring components during the Kaik艒ura earthquake, together with catastrophic damages to several buildings in Wellington sparked serious concerns about听our understanding of the听seismic performance of precast floor systems.鈥,听said Ana.
To address these concerns, a research program called听听was initiated in 2018. As part of this research, Ana is leading efforts to develop solid numerical models, validated against experimental data, representing the seismic听behaviour听of precast floors.
听
听Follow us on听听and听听to get all the latest update about听the听UC Civil and Natural Resources Engineering Department.
.jpg)
