Member Benefit | OCTOBER 10, 2024
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In the United States, ordinary structures are designed to resist collapse during the ‘risk-targeted maximum considered earthquake (MCER)’ ground motions predicted by the USGS. After adjusting by ‘risk factors’ and ‘deterministic limit’, the mean return period (MRP) of MCER ground motions is 1,000 years in high-seismic areas and 2,500 years in low- to moderate-seismic areas.
Earthquakes are frightening because they don’t damage just one building; they can damage an entire city or multiple cities without warning. It does not seem reasonable to accept collapses of thousands of buildings in a city during 1,000- to 2,500-year MRP ground motion. Worldwide, there are at least 500 cities with populations exceeding 1 million. It does not seem reasonable to accept collapses of thousands of buildings somewhere around the world every 2 to 5 years. Collapse-resistant is not collapse-proof. Collapse-resistant structures can withstand most earthquakes, but collapse-proof structures can withstand practically any earthquake and its aftershocks.
In this webinar, we will discuss how to design a collapse-proof structure by relying on a structure’s toughness, hysteretic damping, and cyclic capacity.
Speaker
Praveen K. Malhotra, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, Principal, StrongMotions, Inc.
Learn more: Designing to the Strongest Ground Motions