PEER Reports

PEER Reports

Guidelines for Performing Hazard-Consistent One-Dimensional Ground Response Analysis for Ground Motion Prediction, PEER Report 2014-16

Jonathan P. Stewart
Kioumars Afshari
Youssef M.A. Hashash
2014

Along with source and path effects, site response analysis is a vital component of earthquake ground motion prediction. Semi-empirical ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) include terms for modeling site response that are based on simple metrics of site condition, such as the time-average shear-wave velocity in the upper 30 m of the site (Vs30). Because site terms in GMPEs are derived from global ground motion databases and are based on incomplete information on the site condition, their predictions represent average levels of site response observed at sites conditional on...

NGA-West2 Equations for Predicting Response Spectral Accelerations for Shallow Crustal Earthquakes, PEER Report 2013-05

David M. Boore
Jonathan P. Stewart
Emel Seyhan
Gail M. Atkinson
2013

We provide ground-motion prediction equations (G MPEs) for the computation of median peak ground motions and response spectra for shallow crustal earthquakes in active tectonic regions. The equations were developed as part of the NGA-West 2 project and are based on a composite data set [Ancheta et al . 2013] that includes global events from 1935 to 2011 spanning a wide magnitude range, plus a large number of small-to-moderate magnitude events from California principally from 1998 to 2011. This data set comprises more than 21,000 records, of which we use a subset of ~16000 records in our...

Moment Resisting Frames Coupled with Rocking Walls Subjected to Earthquakes, PEER Report 2022-03

Mehrdad Aghagholizadeh
Nicos Makris
2022

The high occupancy levels in urban multistory buildings, in association with current safety considerations inevitably leads to a reconsideration of performance objectives. In view of the appreciable seismic damage and several weak-story failures (some at mid-height) of multistory buildings that have been documented after major earthquakes, there has been a growing effort to develop an alternative hybrid structural system by coupling the response of moment resisting frames with rigid/stiff walls which are allowed to uplift and rock during ground shaking; therefore, enforcing a uniform drift...

Update of the BC Hydro Subduction Ground-Motion Model using the NGA- Subduction Dataset, PEER Report 2018-02

Norman Abrahamson
Nicolas Kuehn
Zeynep Gulerce
Nicholas Gregor
Yousef Bozorgnia
Grace Parker
Jonathan Stewart
Brian Chiou
I.M. Idriss
Kenneth Campbell
Robert Youngs
2018

An update to the BCHydro ground-motion model for subduction earthquakes has been developed using the 2018 PEER NGA-SUB dataset. The selected subset includes over 70,000 recordings from 1880 earthquakes. The update modifies the BCHydro model to include regional terms for the VS30 scaling, large distance (linear R) scaling, and constant terms, which is consistent with the regionalization approach used in the NGA-W2 ground-motion models. A total of six regions were considered: Cascadia, Central America, Japan, New Zealand, South America, and Taiwan. Region- independent...

PEER Annual Report 2017 - 2018, PEER Report 2018-01

Khalid Mosalam
Amarnath Kasalanati
Selim Günay
2018

The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) is a multi-institutional research and education center with headquarters at the University of California, Berkeley. PEER’s mission is to (1) develop, validate, and disseminate performance-based engineering (PBE) technologies for buildings and infrastructure networks subjected to earthquakes and other natural hazards, with the goal of achieving community resilience; and (2) equip the earthquake engineering and other extreme-event communities with the 21st -century tools that define the current digital revolution. This reports...

Seismic Behavior of Special Concentric Braced Frames under Short- and Long-Duration Ground Motions, PEER Report 2019/09

Ali Hammad
Mohamed A. Moustafa
2019

Over the past decade, several long-duration subduction earthquakes took place in different locations around the world, e.g., Chile in 2010, Japan in 2011, China in 2008, and Indonesia in 2004. Recent research has revealed that long-duration, large-magnitude earthquakes may occur along the Cascadia subduction zone of the Pacific Northwest Coast of the U.S. The duration of an earthquake often affects the response of structures. Current seismic design specifications mostly use response spectra to identify the hazard and do not consider duration effects. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of...

Influence of Vertical Ground Motion on Bridges Isolated with Spherical Sliding Bearings, PEER Report 2019/08

Rushil Mojidra
Keri L. Ryan
2019

The motivation for this project developed from testing of a full scale building isolated with triple friction pendulum bearings on the E-defense shake table in Japan. The test demonstrated experimentally that the vertical component of ground motion can amplify both the base shear and the story acceleration in the isolated building. Vertical shaking introduced high-frequency variation in the axial force of the bearings, and, consequently, a high-frequency component in the bearing lateral force, which excited higher structural modes in the building. Since vertical bridges are flexible in the...

PEER Hub ImageNet (ϕ - Net): A Large-Scale Multi-Attribute Benchmark Dataset of Structural Images, PEER Report 2019/07

Yuqing Gao
Khalid M. Mosalam
2019

In this data explosion epoch, data-driven structural health monitoring (SHM) and rapid damage assessment after natural hazards have become of great interest in civil engineering research. This report introduces deep-learning (DL) approaches and their application to structural engineering, such as post-disaster structural reconnaissance and vision-based SHM. Using DL in vision-based SHM is a relatively new research direction in civil engineering. As researchers begin to apply these concepts to structural engineering concerns, two critical issues remain to be addressed: (1) the lack of a...

Fluid-Structure Interaction and Python-Scripting Capabilities in OpenSees, PEER Report 2019/06

Minjie Zhu
Michael H. Scott
2019

Building upon recent advances in OpenSees, the goals of this project are to expand the framework’s Python scripting capabilities and to further develop its fluid–structure interaction (FSI) simulation capabilities, which are based on the particle finite-element method (PFEM). At its inception, the FSI modules in OpenSees were based on Python scripting. To accomplish FSI simulations in OpenSees, Python commands have been added for a limited number of pre-existing element and material commands, e.g., linear-elastic triangle elements and beam–column elements with Concrete01/Steel01 fiber...

Expected Earthquake Performance of Buildings Designed to the California Building Code (brochure), PEER Report 2019/05, (California Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission Publication 19-01)

Grace S. Kang
Sifat Muin
Jorge Archbold
Bitanoosh Woods
Khalid Mosalam
2019

The brochure explains the intent of the California Building Code, the expected performance of code-compliant new buildings when they are subjected to moderate and large earthquakes, possible consequences to residents, businesses, and communities, and initial proactive actions that can be taken.

“This publication combines information from the earthquake engineering community as well as policy and community officials, and it incorporates input from SSC’s commissioners and staff, whose valuable feedback reflected their diverse range of expertise and experience,” said Grace Kang, PEER...