PEER Reports

PEER Reports

Rocking Response and Overturning of Anchored Equipment under Seismic Excitations, PEER Report 1999-06

Nicos Makris
Jian Zhang
1999

This report investigates the transient rocking response of anchored electrical equipment and other anchored structures that can be approximated as rigid blocks. Practical issues that control over-turning, such as the effect of the vertical component of ground accelerations and the effect of the coefficient of restitution during impact, are also addressed.

The anchorages of equipment are assumed to have a pre-yielding linear behavior, a finite post-yielding strength, and some ductility. The nonlinear behavior of the restrainers in conjunction with the nonlinear dynamics of a rocking...

Documentation of Strengths and Weaknesses of Current Computer Analysis Methods for Seismic Performance of Reinforced Concrete Members, PEER Report 1999-07

William F. Cofer
1999

One of the future needs of the engineering community is a general computational platform for the seismic analysis of structures, structural components, and the interaction between structures and surrounding soil. However, before a large effort is expended, a thorough evaluation of current capabilities is required to establish the state of the art and to determine the direction that should be taken with regard to design needs and analytical approaches. A specific area of interest is the analysis of reinforced concrete components, including cracking and crushing of concrete and yield of...

Envelopes for Seismic Response Vectors, PEER Report 1999-08

Charles Menun
Armen Der Kiureghian
1999

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Performance Improvement of Long Period Building Structures Subjected to Severe Pulse-Type Ground Motions, PEER Report 1999-09

James C. Anderson
Vitelmo V. Bertero
Raul D. Bertero
1999

it has been known since the 1950s that under certain conditions, earthquake ground motions can consist of a limited number of strong acceleration pulses. These types of ground motions have come to be referred to as "pulse-type" ground motions. However, it has only been recently, following the Northridge earthquake (1994), that their importance for the earthquake resistant design of civil engineering structures has been recognized and introduced into the seismic provision of building codes through the introduction of the near-source factor [UBC, 1991-1997]. In an earlier paper [Anderson and...

U.S. Japan Workshop on Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering Methodology for Reinforced Concrete Building Structures, PEER Report 1999-10

Toshimi Kabeyasawa
Jack P. Moehle
1999

Process was reviewed fro the experiences of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake and the 1995 Hyogo-ken-Nanbu Earthquake until the action plan of the US-Japan cooperative research project. The Japan side started the project in 1998, which was reorganized into a five-year project under a new budget source of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Area (Category B), Monbusho, from April 1999 until March 2003. Research topics and investigator groups on the Japan side are outlined, which have been planned under the common theme of "Us-Japan Cooperative Research in Urban Earthquake Disaster...

Performance Evaluation Database for Concrete Bridge Componentsand Systems under Simulated Seismic Loads, PEER Report 1999-11

Yael D. Hose
Frieder Seible
1999

Through lessons learned in recent earthquakes, the need for new seismic bridge design methodologies that consider structural performance explicitly and address the inelastic response of bridge structures more directly is recognized. Efforts are in progress to define and quantify limit states and associated performance goals to develop a multi-level bridge design methodology. A multi-level design approach can be implemented, however, only when structural behavior or limit states can accurately be characterized and assessed for the wide range of probable input or demands. The outlined...

Rehabilitation of Nonductile RC Frame Building Using Encasement Plates and Energy-Dissipating Devices, PEER Report 1999-12

Mehrdad Sasani
Vitelmo V. Bertero
James C. Anderson
1999

The main objective of the study reported heerin has been to develop a general seismic rehabilitation and upgrade approach for existing nonductile reinforced concrete (RC) moment frame buildings. A review of the design and as-built drawings of such existing buildings reveal that one of the main weaknesses is the lack of trasnverse (shear) reinforcement in the beam-column joints. Thus it was decided to attempt an upgrade approach centered on the use of a steep jacket placed around each of these joints. Furthermore, it was considered desirable that the study be conducted on...

U.S. Japan Workshop on the Effects of Near-Field Earthquake Shaking March 20–21, 2000 San Francisco, California, PEER Report 2000-02

Andrew S. Whittaker
2000

The January 1995 Hyogoken Nanbu earthquake devastated the port city of Kobe, Japan, with widespread damage to the built environment and great loss of life. The earthquake damaged buildings, bridges, industrial and transportation infrastructure, ports and harbors, and telecommunications systems. The direct and indirect losses from this earthquake were felt around the world.

Following the 1995 earthquake, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture initiated a five-year research program that addressed a wide variety of issues relating to the impact of a near-field...

Building Vulnerability Studies: Modeling and Evaluation of Tilt-up and Steel Reinforced Concrete Buildings, PEER Report 1999-13

John W. Wallace
Jonathan P. Stewart
Andrew S. Whittaker
1999

The California building inventory includes many different building types. Two common building types in this inventory are tilt-up buildings and reinforced concrete buildings with embedded steel frames (sometimes referred to as steel reinforced concrete, or SRC, buildings). Many of these buildings were built before the implementation of modern provisions for seismic design and may be susceptible to significant damage in moderate-to-strong earthquake ground motions. Given this potential vulnerability, a study was undertaken to assess modeling and evaluation approaches for each building type...

Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of 230-kV Porcelain Transformer Bushings, PEER Report 1999-14

Amir S. Gilani
Andrew S. Whittaker
Gregory L. Fenves
Eric Fujisaki
1999

Two identical 230-kV porcelain transformer bushings and two retrofit details were selected for testing and evaluation. The class of the bushing tested was built in the mid-1980s and was known to be vulnerable to earthquake shaking. Resonance-search tests were conducted to determine the dynamic properties of the bushings. Static testing was undertaken to determine the limit states of the bushing and to assess the effectiveness of a retrofit detail. For static testing, the bushing was vertically mounted on a stiff frame and four target displacement orbits were used: unidirectional,...