PEER Reports

PEER Reports

Sequencing Repairs after an Earthquake:An Economic Approach, PEER Report 2003-09

Marco Casar
Simon J. Wilkie
2003

After recent earthquakes in the U.S. and Japan, the rebuilding of the gas, road, and electric power networks that constitute the lifelines infrastructure has shown that large welfare gains can be achieved by reshaping current emergency plans as incentive-compatible contracts with lifelines service providers. This report presents a class of mechanisms for repair works that a disinterested planner without comprehensive information about repair costs could adopt to implement in a preferred location and sequence. Such mechanisms would help to coordinate repair work among firms and set the...

A Beam-Column Joint Model for Simulating the Earthquake Response of Reinforced Concrete Frames, PEER Report 2003-10

Laura N. Lowes
Nilanjan Mitra
Arash Altoontash
2003

Experimental investigation of the earthquake response of reinforced concrete subassemblages indicates that stiffness and strength loss resulting from beam-column joint damage may be substantial. To simulate inelastic joint action, a joint element is developed that is appropriate for use with traditional beam-column elements in two-dimensional nonlinear frame analysis. The proposed element formulation includes four external nodes with a total of 12 external degrees of freedom; however, the element is a super-element and includes four additional internal degrees of freedom. The super-element...

The Fifth U.S.-Japan Workshop on Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering Methodology for Reinforced Concrete Building Structures, PEER Report 2003-11

2003

Considerable research is under way throughout the world to establish performance-based assessment and design methodology for buildings. Japan and the United States are at the forefront of this research effort, as well as efforts to implement the research results. The U.S.-Japan Cooperative Research in Urban Earthquake Disaster Mitigation, sponsored in Japan by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, and in the U.S. by the National Science Foundation, is funding collaborative research in Japan and the U.S. The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center in the U.S. has...

Implementation Manual for the Seismic Protection of Laboratory Contents: Format and Case Studies, PEER Report 2003-12

William T. Holmes
Mary C. Comerio
2003

Previous work at the University of California, Berkeley, identified the presence of a wide variety of equipment, tanks, material storage systems, and experimental setups in campus laboratories (Comerio and Stallmeyer, 2002). Development of a family of details to seismically restrain such contents revealed different physical conditions in the labs of each building that significantly affected the details (Comerio, 2003). In addition, interest in “do-it-yourself” seismic protection of contents generated by the Q-Brace Program on the campus resulted in extensions to the program that sometimes...

Effects of Connection Hysteretic Degradation on the Seismic Behavior of Steel Moment-Resisting Frames, PEER Report 2003-13

Janise E. Rodgers
Stephen A. Mahin
2003

Fractures observed at the welded beam-column connections in steel moment-resisting frames after recent earthquakes have led structural engineers to investigate the hysteretic behavior of such connections. Extensive research was subsequently performed on connections, and much is now known about their behavior. However, the same cannot be said for the effects of this behavior on overall system response, particularly if degradation occurs in connection strength or stiffness. Some analytical studies have been performed, but experimental data are virtually nonexistent for systems with degrading...

Finite Element Reliability and Sensitivity Methods for Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering, PEER Report 2003-14

Terje Haukaas
Armen Der Kiureghian
2003

The work in this report is motivated by the performance-based engineering approach advocated by PEER. A comprehensive, object-oriented software framework for finite element sensitivity and reliability analysis is developed. The work builds on the existing software OpenSees.

An essential ingredient in finite element reliability analysis is accurate, consistent and efficient computation of response sensitivities. Using the direct differentiation method, a unified formulation of finite element response sensitivities with respect to material, load and shape parameters is developed and...

Seismic Demands for Non-deteriorating Frame Structures and Their Dependence on Ground Motions, PEER Report 2003-15

Ricardo Medina
Helmut Krawinkler
2003

The objective of this study is to improve the understanding of behavior patterns and the quantification of seismic demands for nondeteriorating regular fr ames subjected to ordinary ground motions. In this study, the term ordinary refers to ground motions that are recorded at distances greater than 13 km from the fault rupture, that do not exhibit pulse-type characteristics, and that are recorded on stiff soil sites. Engineering demand parameters (EDPs) of interest include roof and story drifts, local deformations, absolute floor accelerations and velocities, story shears and...

Seismic Demands for Performance-Based Design of Bridges, PEER Report 2003-16

Kevin Mackie
Bozidar Stojadinovic
2003

The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center is developing a probabilistic performance- based earthquake engineering framework, one component of which is a seismic demand model. Probabilistic seismic demand analysis was used to compute values of bridge-specific engineering demand parameters (EDP), such as curvature ductility, given ground motion intensity measures (IM), such as peak ground acceleration. A representative relation between chosen IM-EDP pairs forms the basis of the probabilistic seismic demand models (PSDM) presented.

The objective of this report was the...

Predicting Earthquake Damage in Older Reinforced Concrete Beam-Column Joints, PEER Report 2003-17

Catherine Pagni
2003

Fragility functions are developed that predict the method of repair required for older reinforced concrete beam-column joints damaged by earthquake loading. The results of previous experimental studies are used to develop empirical relationships between damage states and traditional measures of earthquake demand, such as interstory drift, joint deformation, and number of load cycles. Damage states are proposed and linked deterministically with commonly employed MORs; these damage states are characterized by parameters such as concrete crack width, extent of concrete spalling, and yielding...

Performance Models for Flexural Damage in Reinforced Concrete Columns, PEER Report 2003-18

Michael Berry
Marc Eberhard
2003

To implement performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE), it is necessary to assess the probability of reaching multiple damage states in structural and nonstructural elements. To help with this assessment, the research presented in this report provides practical recommendations for estimating the likelihood that in a reinforced concrete column the concrete cover will have begun to spall or the longitudinal bars will have begun to buckle, based on the column’s expected deformation demand.

Damage development in reinforced concrete columns is complex, involving three- dimensional...