Advancing Earthquake-Resilient Design through Rocking Structures
AlbPhD Circle is pleased to congratulate Dr. Kemal Can Struja on the successful completion of his Doctor of Sciences (Dr. sc. ETH Zürich) in Earthquake Engineering at ETH Zürich, completed on 26 March 2026.
His doctoral research, titled "Scaling laws, fragility functions and imperfections in rocking structures," focused on advancing the seismic assessment and practical implementation of rocking structural systems. These systems offer a promising approach to earthquake-resilient design, particularly for bridges constructed with precast concrete elements, as they can minimize residual displacements and damage after earthquakes while potentially reducing foundation design forces.
An important part of his research investigated the seismic response of free-standing rocking columns subjected to pulse-like ground motions. Using both analytical pulses and 99 recorded pulse-like ground motions scaled in acceleration and time, his work examined rocking and overturning behavior and evaluated different intensity measures for characterizing the seismic response.
His research also developed a probabilistic framework for assessing the seismic fragility of free-standing rocking columns. Closed-form analytical formulations were developed to estimate fragility-curve parameters, together with fragility surfaces based on multiple intensity measures, providing a more comprehensive representation of structural response under earthquakes.
A further contribution of the dissertation was the development of a three-dimensional analytical model for rocking bridge systems that accounts for geometric imperfections and torsional behavior. The research demonstrated that even small imperfections in individual columns can induce torsion and significantly influence column displacements, particularly in systems with negative post-uplift stiffness. The proposed model was validated against experimental data and provided reliable and generally conservative predictions of structural response.
With his doctorate completed, Kemal Can is now working as a Project Engineer at dsp Ingenieure + Planer AG in Zurich, applying his expertise in structural analysis and earthquake engineering to the design and assessment of structures.
AlbPhD Circle warmly congratulates Dr. Kemal Can Struja on this important achievement and wishes him continued success in his career in structural and earthquake engineering.
