National Institute for Earth Physics

Main directions of research

• mechanics of soils, nonlinear dynamics of soils.
• local effects.
• seismic response of the soil deposit: accelerations of the soil deposit at different depths, response spectra, acceleration spectra, design spectra.
• seismic hazard.
• mitigation of seismic risk.
• microzonation studies.
• vulnerability studies.
• propagation of seismic waves.
• statistical theories regarding earthquakes.
• urban seismology.

National Projects (selection) :

Programul/Proiectul	Categorie participare	Perioada:
Degradarea dinamica in calculul stabilitatii seismice (grant Academia Romana)	Resp.al contractului din partea INCDFP – Stefan Florin Balan	1995
Contract de Grant Academia Romana Nr. 2664/9.06.1997 “Deformabilitatea dinamica a pamanturilor”	Responsabil de grant – Dr. Stefan Florin Balan	1997
Contract de Grant Academia Romana Nr. 219/1998 “Legi constitutive pentru pamanturi dependente de frecventa solicitarii”	Responsabil de grant – Dr. Stefan Florin Balan	1998
Contract de grant ANSTI Nr. 4098GR/26.11.1998 “Evaluarea raspunsului masivului de pamant tinand seama de comportarea neliniar` a solurilor la cutremure puternice”	Responsabil de grant – Dr. Stefan Florin Balan	1998
Program National CALIST “Evaluarea efectelor seismice locale ale terenului in realizarea hartii de hazard seismic a Romania”	colaborare	1999-2002
Proiect CERES 62/2002 : Cercetari privind impactul unui seism asupra unui amplasament folosind metodologia “Shake map”	Director proiect – Dr. Stefan Florin Balan	2002-2004
Proiect CERES 61/2002 : Analiza complexa de hazard seismic pentru Campia Romana	Director proiect : Dr. Cioflan Carmen	2002-2004
Proiect CERES nr. 3-20 “Marirea semnificativa a exactitatii evaluarii efectelor majore produse de surse seismice multiple prin analiza microlocalitatii si neliniaritatii proprietatilor fizico-mecanice ale straturilor geologice cu aplicare la teritoriul Romaniei si centre urbane principale”	Director proiect – Dr. Bogdan Apostol	2003-2005
Proiect CERES 4-19/2004; “Cercetari de seismologie urbana in vederea reducerii riscului seismic pentru Municipiul Bucuresti si in zonele adiacente.	Director proiect – Dr. Stefan Florin Balan	2004-2006
Proiect CERES nr 4-41/ “Investigatii ale factorilor determinanti in evaluarea hazardului si riscului seismic si elementele necesare analizei statistice a cutremurelor de pamant”.	Director proiect – Dr. Bogdan Apostol	2004-2006
Proiect CERES 4-25/2004; “Modelarea raspunsului seismic al litosferei zonelor seismogene crustale. Aplicatie la zona activa Timisoara”	Director proiect – Dr. Stefan Florin Balan	2004-2006
Proiect CERES 4-71 / 2004; Evaluari deterministe si analize comparative a raspunsului local in scopul microzonarii seismice a Bucurestiului	Director proiect : Dr. Cioflan Carmen	2004-2006
Proiect Programul “Cercetare de Excelenta”(C1-636) : Cercetari avansate privind hazardul seismic local(microzonare) pentru orase din zona extracarpatica. Studii de caz:Iasi, Bacau, Buzau si Craiova	colaborare	2005-2008
Proiect CEEX11-8 “Cercetari avansate privind efectele neliniare si dezvoltarea conceptului de seismologie neliniara in studiul fenomenelor seismice”.	Director proiect – Dr. Bogdan Apost	2006-2008
PNCDI II : Modelarea efectelor seismice locale induse de cutremurele crustale produse in zonele Tulcea, Galati, Tecuci, Campulung, Banat si evaluarea riscului seismic al acestor zone.	Director proiect – Dr. Stefan Florin Balan.	2007-2010
"Analiza efectelor locale care determina nivelul riscului seismic in metropola Bucuresti" Corint NATO-STI 2/2006	Director proiect – Dr. Stefan Florin Balan.	2006-2008

International Projects (selection) :

Programul/Proiectul	Categorie participare	Perioada:
UNESCO-IGCP Project 414 “Realistic Modelling of Seismic Input for Megacities and Large Urban Areas”	colaborare	1998-2001
NATO Science for Peace Project: 972266 “Impact of Vrancea Earthquakes on the Security of Bucharest and other Adjacent Urban Areas”	colaborare	1999-2003
Proiect “Urban Seismology” de colaborare dintre INCDFP si University of Karlsruhe, Geophysical Institute, Collaborative Research Centre 461	Director proiect (partea romana) – Dr. Stefan Florin Balan	2003-2004
Network of Research Infrastructures for European Seismology (NERIES), FP6 -2005- infrastr.-5	colaborare	2006-2008
Seismic Early Warning For Europe (SAFER), FP6-2006	colaborare	2006-2009
Proiect NATO – SFP 981882- “Site-effect analyses for the earthquake-endangered metropolis Bucharest, Romania”	Partner Project Director – Dr. Stefan Florin Balan	2005-2008

It has the following structure:

• 5 scientific researchers
• 5 Ph.D.
• 2 technicians

Equipment:

• Resonant column Drnevich (USA)
• Resonant column Hardin (USA)
• Triaxial ELE (GB)
• Classical devices for geotechnical research and investigation
• Powerful computational technique
• Scaners, color printers

Bibliography (selection) : papers in professional journals and books

Gh.Marmureanu, C.Moldoveanu, C.O.Cioflan : The Dependence of the Spectral Amplification Factors of Vrancea Earthquakes Magnitudes Rev.Roum.Sci.Tech.-Méc.Appliquée, No.5-6, Tome 41, p.487-491, Ed. Academiei Romane, 1996 ;

Balan St.F., "Seismicity and Seismological Research in Romania", Research Reports on Earthquake Engineering No. 79, September 2001; Earthquake Engineering Research Group, Tokyo Institute of Technology. (9 – 18p)

Gh.Marmureanu, C.O.Cioflan., St.Fl.Balan, B.F.Apostol, A.Marmureanu : A Quantitative Characterization of the Nonlinear Seismic Soil Response, Revue Roumaine de Geophysique, tome 46, pag.59-72, Publishing House of Romanian Academy, ISSN 0035-2063, Bucharest, 2002 http://sabba.geodin.ro/~prezentare/RRG/revue2002/marmureanu.htm

M.Misicu, Gh.Marmureanu, St.Fl.Balan, C.O.Cioflan, B.F.Apostol , Contributions to the determination of seismic effects produces by Vrancea earthquakes on the basis of extended analysis of waves propagation in special mechanic and structural characteristics media, Revue Roumain de Geophysique, 46,p.59-72, 2002.

B. F. Apostol, On a Non-Linear equation in elasticity, Phys. Lett. A318, 545-552, 2003;

Moldoveanu C.L., Cioflan C., Panza, G.F., Radulian M., Estimation of site effects in terms of a new microzonation map of Bucharest; International Center for Theoretical Physics, ICTP Print IC/2004/25, 13 pag., Miramare-Trieste, strada Costiera 11, 34100 Trieste, Italy. http://www.ictp.trieste.it/˜pub_off

Joachim R.R. Ritter, Stefan F. Balan, Klaus-Peter Bonjer, Tobias Diehl, Thomas Forbinger, Gh. M`rmureanu, Friedemann Wenzel & Wolfgang Wirth, Broadband Urban Seismology in the Bucharest Metropolitan Area. Seismological Research Letters, Volume 76, No. 5, September/October 2005 (p: 574-580).

S.F. Balan, C.O. Cioflan, B.F. Apostol, Hazard Seismic Studies for the Romanian Capital, Applying the Shake Map Method. Published in the proceedings of “The Second International Conference : Science and Technology for Safe Development of Lifeline Systems” Comenius University Bratislava, October 24-25, 2005, Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Editors: Miroslav Bielik, Peter Moczo, (p:20-24) ISBN: 80-223-2116-8 .

M. Misicu, C.O. Cioflan, B.F. Apostol, Irreversible plastic-elastic process of dual media. Correlation between the fission tensor and damage tensor, Rev.Roum.Sci.Tech.-Méc.Appliquée, 2006

B. F. Apostol, Euler's transform and a generalized Omori's law, Phys. Lett. A351,175,2006;

B. F. Apostol, A model of seismic focus and related statistical distributions of earthquakes, Phys. Lett. A357, 462, 2006 ;

S.F.Balan, C.O.Cioflan, B.F.Apostol, Seismic hazard studies for the Romanian capital applying a SHAKE MAP method, Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica Hungarica, Vol. 41, No3-4. September, 2006, 341-348.

C.O.Cioflan & B.F.Apostol ,Modern Evaluation of the Seismic Hazard for Romanian Plain, Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica Hungarica Vol. 41, No3-4. September, 2006, 425-433.

D.Bratosin , St.F.Balan, C.O.Cioflan, Soils non-linearity evaluation for site seismic microzonation, Proceedings of the Romanian Academy, 8, 3, 235-242, 2007

B. F. Apostol, Resonance of the surface waves. The H/V ratio, Roum. Reps. Phys. 60, 91, 2008;

B. F. Apostol, L. C. Cune, Scaling and universal power laws in time series of seismic events, Roum. J. Phys. 53, 593, 2008 ;

G.F.Panza, M.Kouteva, F.Vaccari, A.Peresan, C.O.Cioflan, F.Romanelli (2008) Recent achievements of NDSHA in CEI region, International Centre for Earth Physics, IC2008009, 10p.

Gh.Marmureanu, C.O.Cioflan, Al.Marmureanu, New approach on seismic hazard isoseismal map for Romania, Romanian Reports in Physics, Volume 60, Number 4, 2008, pag.1123-1137.

G.F.Panza, C.O.Cioflan , Vrancea Earthquakes: A special challenge for seismic base isolation in Bucharest, in „Modern Systems for Mitigation of Seismic Action” Editors : I.Vlad, H.Sandi, U.Sannino, A.Martelli, AGIR Publishing House, Bucharest 2008, p.339-355

Cornea I.,Marmureanu Gh., Balan St.F., Oncescu M., coordonator acad. St.Balan, Introducere in mecanica fenomenelor seismice si inginerie seismica; Editura Academiei Romane, 1987, (500p);

Al. Negoita (coordonator), colectiv autori: Balan St.F. si altii, Aplicatii ale ingineriei seismice; Editura Tehnica, Buc. 1988. (420p).

Apostol Bogdan, “O Introducere in Seismologia Teoretica” Ed. Vox, Bucuresti (2008), ISBN 978-973-7811-91-2 (145 pagini)

Apostol Bogdan & others “Of Geophysical Episodes. An Introduction to Theoretical Seismology” (in colaborare), Magurele-Bucharest (2005) ISSN 1453-4428 (contributie 90 pagini).

C.O.Cioflan , Efecte seismice locale, Editura Univ. “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Iasi, 2007 ISBN 973-703-198-9 (in Romanian)

C.O. Cioflan ,“Impact of Vrancea Earthquakes on the Security of Bucharest and other Adjacent Urban Areas” editie bilingva, Eds: G.F.Panza, M.Radulian, I.Kuznetov, Independent Film, Bucharest, Romania, 2007 ,Chapters 1.2.” Strong motion distribution in Bucharest area and associated seismic scenarios” and 2.2 “Seismic waves propagation studies for Vrancea zone. Applications in seismic risk analysis.” (bilingual edition).