Ongoing projects

• AUA was awarded a contract through an international competition under a World Bank financed project in Romania, namely “Hazard Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project”.

  8 companies from 7 countries (Armenia, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Romania and USA) were participating in the competition, of which 6 were short-listed. From these 6 companies 2 companies (one from USA and another one from Romania) withdrew, and finally 4 companies, namely - AUA (Armenia), GERB (Germany), EQRM (USA) and BECA International Consultants (New Zealand) submitted their bid packages of technical and financial proposals.

  According to the World Bank procurement rules first the technical proposals of participating companies were opened and evaluated with the following results:

  Consultant’s names	Technical scores S(t)	Weighted scores  S(t) ´ 0.8	Technical rank
  1. GERB GmbH (Germany)	91.8	73.44	I
  2. American University of Armenia (Armenia)	87.6	70.08	II
  3. BECA International Consultants Ltd (New Zealand)	83.8	67.04	III
  4. EQRM International Inc. (USA)	82.8	66.24	IV

  Later, on August 8, 2007 the financial proposals were opened publicly and evaluated with the following results:

  Consultant’s names	Financial scores S(f)	Weighted scores  S(f) ´ 0.2	Financial rank
  1. GERB GmbH (Germany)	20.42	4.08	VI
  2. American University of Armenia (Armenia)	100	20	I
  3. BECA International Consultants Ltd (New Zealand)	21.8	4.36	III
  4. EQRM International Inc. (USA)	76.63	15.33	II

  Based on the technical and financial scores the following combined scores were given to each of the bidders:

  Consultant’s names	Combined scores S(t) ´ 0.8+ S(f) ´ 0.2	Rank
  1. GERB GmbH (Germany)	77.52	III
  2. American University of Armenia (Armenia)	90.08	I
  3. BECA International Consultants Ltd (New Zealand)	71.4	IV
  4. EQRM International Inc. (USA)	81.57	II

  Thus, AUA received the highest score and on October 22, 2007 M. Melkumyan, the EE Group leader, received a formal notification from Bucharest that AUA was selected for carrying out the consultant services on “Preparation of Technical Design for strengthening the key facilities for City Hall, Iasi, Iasi County”.

  The total contract price that was proposed is €137,439, of which €56,000 is the amount for our partner in Romania (S.C. Mihul S.R.L. IASI).

  This is a great achievement and for the first time Dr. Melkumyan's technology on retrofitting of existing buildings by base isolation will be implemented in Romania on a 175 years old City Hall building in the City of Iasi.

• An INTAS Grant No 03-51-5547 (36 months, since January 2004) for carrying out research work on "Seismic Risk Mitigation, for Schools and Hospitals, Exploiting Smart Materials and Intelligent Systems" in cooperation with the University of Pavia (Italy), Ethnikon Metsovion Polytechnion (Greece), Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (Russia), Institute of Mechanics (Armenia), Kyrghistan State University of Building, Architecture and Transport (Kyrghistan), Saint-Petersburg University (Russia).

•   Business Center on Khorenatsi street

  Development of structural concept of seismic isolation and earthquake response analysis of multistory Business Center on Khorenatsi Street in Yerevan (Effective December 17, 2004) Click to enlarge

• Multistory apartment buildings on Arami Street

  Development of structural concept of seismic isolation and earthquake response analysis of multistory apartment buildings on Arami Street in Yerevan (Effective April 8, 2005) Click to enlarge

• Development of structural concept of seismic isolation, earthquake response analysis and development of design drawings of 4 multistory apartment buildings on Northern Ray, Paronian, Komitas, and Demirchian streets in Yerevan (Effective April 18)

Completed Workshops/Seminars

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  CRDF grant was approved and received, and CRDF Armenia - U.S. Scientific Workshop on "Reduction of Vulnerability and Risk of Destruction of Existing Buildings in Strong Earthquakes" was held on October 7-10, 2002 with 8 U.S. and 10 Armenian participants. The Workshop developed a series of recommendations for future research collaboration between American and Armenian researchers.

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  By the initiative of Dr. Melkumyan and with the support of Prof. Der Kiureghian it was proposed to hold the 8th World Seminar on "Seismic Isolation, Passive Energy Dissipation and Active Vibration Control of Structures" in Yerevan. In recognition of the works carried out in Armenia in the field of seismic isolation decision was made by the Anti-Seismic Systems International Society (ASSISi) to hold the above Seminar in Armenia. The Seminar was successfully held on October 6-10, 2004 in Yerevan. It was organized by the AUA/ERC and co-organized by the Armenian Association for Earthquake Engineering (AAEE) and the ASSISi. The Seminar was attended by about 100 participants from 23 countries.

Completed Projects

• Seismic evaluation of "Hybusiness" hotel building in the city of Yerevan, 2005
  
• "Cascade" apartment building on Demirchian Street

  Development of structural concept of seismic isolation and earthquake response analysis of multistory "Cascade" apartment building on Demirchian Street in Yerevan (October 20, 2004 - March 31, 2005) Click to enlarge.

• Development of structural concept of seismic isolation and earthquake response analysis of Administrative buildings complex of the Ministry of Defense in Yerevan (October 6, 2004 - April 30, 2005).
  
• "Our Yard" apartment buildings complex on Rostomi Street

  Development of structural concept of seismic isolation and earthquake response analysis of multistory "Our Yard" apartment buildings complex on Rostomi Street in Yerevan (September 23, 2004 - February 28, 2005) Click to enlarge.

• Development of structural concept and design of structural part of seismic isolation for construction of multistory building on Sayat Nova Street in Yerevan (June 1 - October 31, 2004).
• Experimental and Analytical Studies on Earthquake Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete Buildings Using Advanced Composite Materials - in cooperation with the University of Southern California (April 1 - May 31, 2004).

  Click to enlarge

• Development of design of structural part for seismic isolation and reconstruction of the Armenian-American Wellness Center Fund in the City of Yerevan (November 30, 2003 - April 12, 2004).
• Development of structural concept of seismic isolation for construction of three types of houses in "Vahagni Village" in the City of Yerevan and carrying out an earthquake response analysis of these houses (October 25, 2003 - January 30, 2004).
• Seismic evaluation of 4 buildings on the territory of former fleet of taxis in the City of Yerevan, including the assessment of their technical conditions and actual earthquake resistance (March 31 - May 23, 2003).
• 3-story Clinic building in the City of Stepanakert

  Development of structural concept of seismic isolation for construction of new 3-story Clinic building in the City of Stepanakert and carrying out an earthquake response analysis of that building (June 19 - August 19, 2002) Click to enlarge

• Earthquake response analysis of a base isolated school #4 in the City of Vanadzor and definition of stiffness and damping characteristics of seismic isolators (May 1 - August 1, 2002).

  Click to enlarge

• Earthquake response analysis of a 4-story base isolated apartment building type "A" in the Huntsman Village in the City of Gyumri (August 8 - December 8, 2001).

  Click to enlarge

• Development of technical specifications for the strengthening and reconstruction works on school #113 in the City of Yerevan, and carrying out inspection during the whole period of construction (May 1 - November 30, 2001).
• The final report "Guidelines on Seismic Isolation of Buildings" on INTAS No 1140-97 Project (September 2001).