PEER Reports

PEER Reports

Seismic Response Analysis of Highway Overcrossings Including Soil-Structure Interaction, PEER Report 2001-02

Jian Zhang
Nicos Makris
2001

In this report the development and validation of a simple yet dependable method to estimate the seismic response of freeway overcrossings is presented. The proposed method adopts the sub-structure approach to address the issue of soil-foundation-superstructure interaction. The various steps of the method are validated with scarce historic records and are compared with the results obtained by other investigators.

Recognizing that soil-structure interaction affects appreciably the earthquake response of highway overcrossings, Chapter 2 concentrates on the calculation of the kinematic...

A Modal Pushover Analysis Procedure to Estimate Seismic Demands for Buildings: Theory and Preliminary Evaluation, PEER Report 2001-03

Anil K. Chopra
Rakesh K. Goel
2001

The principal objective of this investigation is to develop a pushover analysis procedure based on structural dynamics theory, which retains the conceptual simplicity and computational attractiveness of current proce dures with invariant force dist ribution, but provides superior accuracy in estimating seismic demands on buildings.

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Organizational and Societal Considerations for Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering, PEER Report 2001-04

Peter May
2001

Decisions about seismic performance are the underpinnings of a rigorous approach to performance-based earthquake engineering and should specifically consider the decision variables within the PEER framing equation. This report considers the decision-making process for seismic safety from the perspective of organizations—building owners, investors, and others concerned with single facilities or a collection of facilities—and from the perspective of society.

The dominant mode of seismic performance decision making, “risk and safety as by- products of design,” falls short in not...

Stiffness Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Elastomeric Isolators, PEER Report 2001-05

Hsiang-Chuan Tsai
James M. Kelly
2001

The reinforcing elements of multi-layer elastomeric isolation bearings, which are normally steel plates, are replaced by a fiber reinforcement. The fiber-reinforced isolator is significantly lighter and could lead to a much less labor-intensive manufacturing process. In contrast to the steel-reinforced islolator, which is assumed to be rigid both in extension and in flexure, the fiber-reinforced isolator is assumed flexible in extension, but completely without flexural rigidity. This report presents theoretical approaches for analyzing the compressive stiffness and bending stiffness of...

Development of an Electrical Substation Equipment Performance Database for Evaluation of Equipment Fragilities, PEER Report 2001-06

Thalia Anagnos
2001

A database has been developed that documents the performance of substation equipment in 12 California earthquakes. The equipment in the database is owned by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Southern California Edison and the California Department of Water Resources. The majority of data relates to equipment operating at 220/230 kV and 500 kV. The database is organized into an Excel 5.0 spreadsheet with 68 data fields describing earthquake location, ground motion, site location and conditions, equipment characteristics, performance of...

The Rocking Spectrum and the Shortcomings of Design Guidelines, PEER Report 2001-07

Nicos Makris
Dimitrios Konstantinidis
2001

This report is concerned with the superficial similarities and fundamental differences between the oscillatory response of a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) oscillator (regular pendulum) and the rocking response of a slender rigid block (inverted pendulum). The study examines the distinct characteristics of the rocking spectrum and compares the observed trends with those of the response spectrum. It is shown that the rocking spectrum complements the response spectrum as an indicator of the shaking potential of earthquakes since it reflects kinematic characteristics of the ground motions...

Experimental and Computational Evaluation of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Beam-Column Connections for Seismic Performance, PEER Report 2001-08

Clay J. Naito
Jack P. Moehle
Khalid M. Mosalam
2001

Proper design of reinforced concrete bridge beam-column connections is imperative for the behavior of the bridge structure. While in the past this area was overlooked, resulting in bridge structure damage and in some cases collapse, current methods have overcompensated for these shortcomings. The presented research shows that current joint design requirements in the state of California produce conservative designs (i.e., joints with excessive amounts of reinforcement). The joints in these systems are capable of supporting the intended flexural mechanism, but at the cost of constructability...

Ground Motion Evaluation Procedures for Performance-Based Design, PEER Report 2001-09

Jonathan P. Stewart
Shyh-Jeng Chiou
Jonathan D. Bray
Robert W. Graves
Paul G. Somerville
Norman A. Abrahamson
2001

The principal objective of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) is to develop a sound, scientific ba sis for performance-based earthquake engineering. The development of this methodology includes three vital steps:

Evaluation of the distribution of ground motion intensity measures at a site, given certain seismological variables (i.e., fault characteristics, position of site relative to faults, etc.). Intensity measures may consist of traditional parameters such as spectral acceleration or duration, or newly defined parameters found to be useful for particular...

Amplification Factors for Spectral Acceleration in Active Regions, PEER Report 2001-10

Jonathan P. Stewart
Andrew H. Liu
Yoojoong Choi
Mehmet B. Baturay
2001

Empirical relationships are developed to predict amplification factors for 5% damped spectral acceleration (period range T = 0.01 – 5 s) as a function of site category. Amplification is evaluated by normalizing ground motion intensity measures from recordings by reference motions derived from modified attenuation relationships for active regions. The Abrahamson and Silva attenuation relationship for rock sites was used for the derivation of reference motions, with modifications to account for event terms and rupture directivity effects.

Strong motion sites are classified according...

Analytical and Experimental Study of Fiber-Reinforced Elastomeric Isolators, PEER Report 2001-11

James M. Kelly
Shakhzod M. Takhirov
2001

Theoretical and experimental analyses are carried out for the mechanical characteristics of multi-layer elastomeric isolation bearings where the reinforcing elements, normally steel plates, are replaced by a fiber reinforcement. The fiber-reinforced isolator, in contrast to the steel-reinforced isolator (which is assumed to be rigid both in extension and flexure), is assumed to be flexible in extension, but completely without flexure rigidity.

The influence of fiber flexibility on the mechanical properties of the fiber-reinforced isolator, such as the vertical and horizontal...