Recently, the international academic journal Engineering Structures announced the results of its 2024 Best Paper Award. The paper titled “Collapse mechanisms and fragility curves based on Lumped Damage Mechanics for RC frames subjected to earthquakes”, authored by Professor Julio Flórez-López from the School of Civil Engineering at Chongqing University, was honored with the journal’s Best Paper Award for the Americas & Africa region. This research was a collaborative effort between Professor Flórez-López and Professor André T. Beck from the Saint Paul University. The first author, Rubia Bosse, is a doctoral student at the the Saint Paul University, and the paper was co-supervised by Professor Beck and Professor Flórez-López.
The study addresses the challenge of damage assessment in reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures under seismic action, where nonlinear behaviors such as crack propagation, plastic strain accumulation, and large displacements induce collapse mechanisms. The research proposes an innovative seismic fragility analysis framework that integrates Lumped Damage Mechanics (LDM) and Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE). By localizing damage and plastic effects as nodal inelastic hinges and combining incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) with system reliability theory, the study creatively employs internal damage variables as Engineering Demand Parameters (EDPs) to construct seismic fragility curves that reflect the global collapse mechanisms of structures. This achievement provides a theoretical tool for visualizing damage evolution and assessing seismic safety in complex RC structures. It also offers significant engineering value for optimizing seismic design and evaluating the performance of existing structures.
Engineering Structures is a leading journal in the field of structural engineering under Elsevier. It covers cutting-edge research areas such as infrastructure, earthquake engineering, structural dynamics, bridge engineering, wind engineering, blast-resistant design, structural reliability, health monitoring, and advanced materials. Each year, the journal awards three Best Paper Prizes (one each for the Americas & Africa, Europe, and Asia & Pacific regions), one Best Review Paper Prize, and 29 Best Paper Prizes in specialized fields.
Julio Flórez-López is a foreign professor at the School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, and a renowned scholar in the field of international damage mechanics. In the 1980s, he studied under Jean Lemaitre, one of the pioneers of damage mechanics, and later proposed the theory and computational methods of LDM. He developed the first network-based nonlinear damage propagation finite element analysis program for “Cloud Computing” analysis of structural seismic damage. His contributions have earned widespread recognition and positive acclaim in the fields of earthquake engineering and applied mechanics.
