Areas of
Research
The major areas of research are
Structural Dynamics, Soil Dynamics, Seismology and Seismotectonics, and
Earthquake Instrumentation.
Major Facilities
Strong Motion Instrumentation Network
The Department has installed about
200 strong motion accelerographs (analog and digital) and about 350 structural
response recorders at different places, mostly covering severe seismic
zones of the country. These instruments which are maintained and operated
by the Department have yielded several strong motion records of different
earthquakes. About 30 more digital accelerographs will be added to the
network in the near future. Through the funding from World Bank, Department
has procured sensors and strong motion recorders for instrumenting about
ten multistoreyed buildings in peninsular India. The work on instrumenting
the buildings is likely to be completed by June,`98.
Telemetered Local Seismological
Network
A telemetered local seismological
network comprising of seven outstations radio linked to a central recording
station located at New Tehri Town, has been deployed in the Garhwal Lesser
Himalaya since September 1993. The systematic long-term seismological data
being collected through the operation of this network will halp in studying
the pattern of local seismicity.
Soil Dynamics Laboratory
The Department has a soil dynamics
laboratory geared to undertake both in-site as well as laboratory testing
programmes. It has a dynamic triaxial apparatus for conducting both stress
and strain controlled tests on soil samples. A cross borehole equipment
for obtaining shear wave profiles upto a depth of 60 metres is also available.