PEER Reports

PEER Reports

Vector-Valued Ground Motion Intensity Measures for Probabilistic Seismic Demand Analysis, PEER Report 2006-08

Jack W. Baker
C. Allin Cornell
2006

The “strength” of an earthquake ground motion is often quantified by an intensity measure (IM), such as peak ground acceleration or spectral acceleration at a given period. This IM is used to quantify both the rate of occurrence of future earthquake ground motions (hazard) and the effect of these ground motions on the structure (response). In this report, intensity measures consisting of multiple parameters are considered. These intensity measures are termed vector-valued IMs, as opposed to the single parameter, or scalar, IMs that are traditionally used. Challenges associated with...

Quantifying Economic Losses from Travel Forgone Following a Large Metropolitan Earthquake, PEER Report 2006-09

James E. Moore
Sungbin Cho
Yue Yue Fan
Stuart Werner
2006

The goal of this research is to provide tools for seismic retrofit decisions in metropolitan transportation networks. The objective is to extend the work completed for the PEER Highway Demonstration Project by developing and implementing a transportation network model capable of estimating increased travel delays and the economic losses associated with trips eliminated from the transportation network following an earthquake.

The work completed in PEER projects A5, 104199, and 3222001 links earthquake damage to transportation structures to transportation network performance and...

Seismic Performance of Masonry Buildings and Design Implications, PEER Report 2004-01

Kerri Anne Taeko Tokoro
James C. Anderson
Vitelmo V. Bertero
2004

The seismic response of three reinforced masonry buildings with flexible diaphragms is investigated, two buildings with instrumentation, and one without. An instrumented three-story building is investigated for its response during the Whittier Narrows (1989), Landers (1992), and Northridge (1994), California, ear thquakes, and the response of an instrumented two-story building during the Loma Prieta (1989) earthquake is presented. Flexibility of the diaphragms of the two instrumented buildings was also stud ied by using the 1997 UBC criteria. Static and dynamic analyses were used to...

Analytical Investigations of New Methods for Reducing Residual Displacements of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns, PEER Report 2004-02

Junichi Sakai
Stephen A. Mahin
2004

Reinforced concrete bridge columns located in regions of high seismicity are designed with large ductility capacity for adequate protection against collapse. This type of design tends to result in large permanent displacements. To maximize post-event operability and to minimize repair costs, new design strategies to reduce these residual displacements are necessary.

To minimize residual displacements in reinforced concrete columns, a new method is proposed whereby longitudinal prestressing strands replace some of the typical longitudinal mild reinforcing bars. The seismic...

Evaluation and Application of Concrete Tilt-up Assessment Methodologies, PEER Report 2004-03

Timothy Graf
James O. Malley
2004

This report covers Task 1 of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center Task 509 — Evaluation and Application of Concrete Tilt-up Assessment Methodologies. The objective of Task 1 of Lifelines 509 is to summarize the research findings and results of previous PEER research projects on concrete tilt-up buildings and to assess the report findings on their impact upon current design codes and guidelines. From all four reports evaluated, some suggestions are presented for changes in design. Ideas for future PEER research not specific to any of the reports are also presented....

Seismic Performance of an Instrumented Tilt-up Wall Building, PEER Report 2004-04

James C. Anderson
Vitelmo V. Bertero
Mohsen Kargah
Mohamed Al Satari
2004

The seismic response of an instrumented tilt-up wall building is initially investigated under the action of four earthquake ground motions that were recorded at the site . The strongest base acceleration was 0.18g recorded during the Big Bear, California, earthquake. Building response was obtained from nine sensors located in the building, and these data were used to evaluate the behavior of the building and the accuracy of the numerical calculations obtained from a three- dimensional building model. A site visit indicated that the response of the walls to the recorded ground motions had...

Performance-Based Seismic Design Concepts and Implementation Proceedings of the International Workshop Bled, Slovenia, June 28 - July 1, 2004, PEER Report 2004-05

Peter Fajfar
Helmut Krawinkler
2004

The workshop on “Seismic Design Methodologies for the Next Generation of Codes,” held in Bled, Slovenia, in 1997, initiated considerable progress worldwide to establish basic concepts and methods for performance-based earthquake engineering. An increasing acceptance of PBEE concepts by practicing engineers, together with extensive research, has led to implementation in the design and upgrade of buildings, bridges, and other man-made structures.

Encouraged by the success of the 1997 workshop, we decided to organize an international forum aimed at continuing dialog on the...

Ground Motions for Earthquake Simulator Qualification of Electrical Substation Equipment, PEER Report 2004-07

Shakhzod M. Takhirov
Gregory L. Fenves
E. Fujisaki
Don Clyde
2004

The main objective of the study was to develop a set of strong motion time histories suitable for seismic qualification testing of electrical substation equipment in accordance with the IEEE 693- 1997 standard. Although the objective deals with sh ake table testing of a particular class of equipment, many of the issues investigated are equally relevant to the dynamic testing of other types of equipment and components. This study was motivated by a desire to introduce a standard set of input motions in three orthogonal directions and thus achieve more consistency in earthquake simulator...

Seismic Qualification and Fragility Testing of Line Break 550-kV Disconnect Switches, PEER Report 2004-08

Shakhzod M. Takhirov
Gregory L. Fenves
Eric Fujisaki
2004

The objective of the study was to conduct seismic qualification and fragility testing of a single pole of a 550-kV porcelain disconnect switch. Due to clearance limitations above the shake table, the switch with the main blade in the open position could not be tested in a typical field installation; therefore, several switch configurations were developed for testing. The 550-kV disconnect switch was tested in three configurations: mounted on typical 14-ft-tall supports, mounted on a short 4-in. spacer to simulate flexibility of the top plat es of the supports, and rigidly fixed to the...

Electrical Substation Equipment Interaction: Experimental Rigid Conductor Studies, PEER Report 2004-09

Christopher Stearns
André Filiatrault
2004

The main objective of the research described in this report was through quasi-static and shake table testing to experimentally investigate th e interaction between components of substation equipment connected by redesigned (or improved) rigid bus connectors. The purpose was to generate data that would provide guidance in the design of conductor assemblies with the improved connectors. Another objective was to provide experimental validation data for a current PEER-PG&E project in which analytical studies are being conducted at the University of California, Berkeley. Specific te sts...