New PEER Report 2020/12: "Project Technical Summary (PEER-CEA Project)"

December 15, 2020

PEER has just published Report No. 2020/12: "Project Technical Summary," a report for the "Quantifying the Performance of Retrofit of Cripple Walls and Sill Anchorage in Single-Family Wood-Frame Buildings" Project. It was authored by Evan Reis, Reis Consulting in collaboration with Yousef Bozorgnia, Henry Burton, Kelly Cobeen, Gregory G. Deierlein, Tara Hutchinson, Grace S. Kang, Bret Lizundia, Silvia Mazzoni, Sharyl Rabinovici, Brandon Schiller, David P. Welch, and Farzin Zareian.

Visit the PEER publications page to download a free color pdf of the document.

Abstract

This  report  is  one  of  a  series  of  reports  documenting  the  methods  and  findings  of  a  multi-year,  multi-disciplinary  project  coordinated  by  the  Pacific  Earthquake  Engineering  Research  Center  (PEER) and funded by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). The overall project is titled “Quantifying the Performance of Retrofit of Cripple Walls and Sill Anchorage in Single-Family Wood-Frame Buildings,” henceforth referred to as the “PEER-CEA Project.”

The  overall  objective  of  the  PEER–CEA  project  is  to  provide  scientifically  based  information  (e.g.,  testing,  analysis,  and  resulting  loss  models)  that  measure  and  assess  the  effectiveness of seismic retrofit to reduce the risk of damage and associated losses (repair costs) of  wood-frame  houses  with  cripple  wall  and  sill  anchorage  deficiencies  as  well  as  retrofitted  conditions that address those deficiencies. Tasks that support and inform the loss-modeling effort are: (1) collecting and summarizing existing information and results of previous research on the performance   of   wood-frame   houses;   (2)   identifying   construction   features   to   characterize   alternative  variants  of  wood-frame  houses;  (3)  characterizing  earthquake  hazard  and  ground  motions  at  representative  sites  in  California;  (4)  developing  cyclic  loading  protocols  and  conducting  laboratory  tests  of  cripple  wall  panels,  wood-frame  wall  subassemblies,  and  sill  anchorages to measure and document their response (strength and stiffness) under cyclic loading; and (5) the computer modeling, simulations, and the development of loss models as informed by a workshop with claims adjustors.

This report is a product of Working Group 7: Reporting and is a summary of the PEER–CEA  Project  work  performed  by  Working  Groups  1–6.  This  report  does  not  present  new  information  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  project,  and  its  purpose  is  to  serve  as  a  reference  for  researchers and catastrophe modelers wishing to understand the objectives and key findings of the project. The key overall findings of the PEER–CEA Project are summarized in Chapters 8 and 10, which describe the efforts of the WG5 and WG6 Working Groups. The reader is referred to the individual reports prepared by the Working Groups for comprehensive information on the tasks, methodologies, and results of each.