Despite the billions of dollars spent to construct or reinforce buildings, bridges, freeways and port facilities, engineers still needbetter ways to reliably predict and prevent structural damage from a major earthquake, says a UC Davis researcher. "At present we don't have a well-tested method to evaluate the amount of movement of a structure resting on a soil that will liquefy in an earthquake," says Kandiah Arulanandan, a UC Davis professor of civil and environmental engineering. To discuss current practices and research needs in this field, geotechnical researchers from around the world will meet at UC Davis Oct. 28-30 at a workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Arulanandan, who is chairing the meeting, hopes to build upon a recent international project based at UC Davis that found serious problems with most of the current engineering "numerical procedures," or computer codes, used to calculate the amount of movement of liquefied soil and the subsequent failure of structures. A better understanding of the physics of water-saturated soils, as well as verified procedures, are key to finding reliable and economic ways of minimizing earthquake damage, he says.