Seismic analysis and risk mitigation of existing constructions

Following a thorough and lengthy procedure, we would like to thank all contributors for their highest calibre papers,which comprise the Special Issue on “Seismic analysis and risk mitigation of existing constructions” of the OpenConstruction and Building Technology Journal.The topic of the Special Issue encompasses a large number of issues spanning the design of special interventions forthe reduction of the effects of earthquakes on civil structures and infrastructures, to the structural identification andassessment issues.The field of seismic engineering is continuously looking for new strategies and methods, which empower thedesigners and make them able to obtain more accurate response predictions. Researchers are involved in this processand are called to successfully encounter new challenges emerging from the increasing need for the assessment ofexisting constructions, especially when assuming strategic roles.As is also reflected by the papers presented in the Special Issue, the continuous advances of the research in this fieldmoves across two basic directions. On the one hand, there is the direction of the robustness and the reliability of therecent nonlinear seismic assessment methods (static, dynamic, incremental dynamic). Several approaches can befollowed to predict the response of structures to strong ground motions; however the results coming from each of themare in some cases conflicting and not always amenable to easy interpretation.On the other hand, the reliability of structural models still remains a major task of structural engineering and ofseismic engineering in particular. Mathematical models have to reproduce the physics of structures and its evolutionduring complex damaging processes. Global and local models tend to reflect this by minimizing the loss of information.In the Special Issue, we are proud to present state-of-the-art research findings described in detail in 9 papersauthored by 27 researchers of different universities in Italy, California (USA), Greece and United Kingdom. The papersdeal with the seismic analysis and risk mitigation aiming to address different purposes by proposing numerical,analytical approaches and experimental tests.