Schedule

Week 1: History of Earthquake Engineering and Performance-Based Seismic Design

Outcomes

  • Summarize the history of earthquake engineering with respect to when hazards posed by specific existing building systems were identified.
  • Describe how earthquake hazards are characterized and what parameters are used to assess existing buildings.
  • Identify different building earthquake performance levels and what is appropriate for a given building.

Topics

  • History of Earthquakes in the US and how they have exposed vulnerabilities with different construction practices
  • Earthquake hazards and engineering parameters associated with them
  • Structural and nonstructural performance levels for buildings

Week 2: Fundamental Concepts of Seismic Evaluation and The ASCE 41 Standard

Outcomes

  • Describe the outline of the ASCE 41 Standard and explain the different ways it can be used to identify and mitigate earthquake hazards in existing buildings.
  • Explain the fundamental concepts of displacement-based design and how it is used in the ASCE 41 standard.
  • Correctly identify the differences between force and deformation-controlled elements and be able to classify elements of a building appropriately.
  • Identify which structural elements are primary lateral force resisting elements and which are secondary elements in common building systems to classify elements of a building appropriately. 

Topics

  • Outline of the ASCE 41 Standard
  • Deficiency-based versus systematic evaluation methodologies
  • Capacity-based design principals
  • Displacement-based design

Week 3: Deficiency-Based Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit

Outcomes

  • Explain the basis for the deficiency-based procedures in ASCE 41 and how apply the procedures to existing structures.
  • Successfully use the ASCE 41 Tier 1 checklists to screen for potential deficiencies.
  • Correctly transition from a Tier 1 screening to a Tier 2 deficiency-based evaluation or retrofit.

Topics

  • Introduction to deficiency-based procedures
  • The Tier 1 Screening process
  • The Tier 2 Deficiency-only evaluation
  • Deficiency-based retrofit methods

Week 4: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Steel Moment Frame Buildings

Outcomes

  • Correctly identify common deficiencies in steel moment frame buildings.
  • Explain what pre-Northridge beam-column connections are and how to effectively retrofit them.
  • Determine if a frame’s columns have sufficient robustness to prevent global instability during earthquakes.
  • Name three different of methods that can be used to retrofit steel moment frame structures.

Topics

  • Summary of common seismic deficiencies with steel moment frame buildings
  • Northridge Earthquake damage to steel moment frame buildings
  • Column stability and splice deficiencies
  • Retrofit of steel moment frame buildings 

Week 5: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Steel Braced Frame Buildings

Outcomes

  • Identify the three most common deficiencies in older steel braced frame buildings.
  • Learn how to determine if a building frame’s braces have sufficient robustness to resist the given earthquake forces.
  • Determine if a frame’s columns have sufficient robustness to prevent bucking during an earthquake.
  • Develop the knowledge to retrofit steel braced frame structures using three different approaches.

Topics

  • Summary of common seismic deficiencies with steel braced frame buildings
  • Brace and brace connection deficiencies
  • Column stability and splice deficiencies
  • Retrofit of steel braced frame buildings 

Week 6: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Moment Frame Buildings

Outcomes

  • Identify the two most common deficiencies in reinforced concrete moment frame buildings.
  • Determine if columns have adequate reinforcement based on the building site’s level of seismicity.
  • Explain how to implement two methods to retrofit concrete moment frame buildings.

Topics

  • Summary of common seismic deficiencies with reinforced concrete frame buildings
  • Column deficiencies
  • Beam deficiencies
  • Joint region deficiencies
  • Slab-column frame systems
  • Retrofit of reinforced concrete moment frame buildings 

Week 7: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Wall Buildings

Outcomes

  • Identify two most common deficiencies in reinforced concrete wall buildings.
  • Evaluate if a concrete wall is shear or flexure controlled.
  • Describe why an insufficient number walls in a building puts the gravity framing at risk of collapse.
  • Develop the knowledge to apply two common methods to retrofit concrete wall buildings.

Topics

  • Summary of common seismic deficiencies with reinforced concrete wall buildings
  • Deformation compatibility and secondary framing
  • Retrofit of reinforced concrete wall buildings 

Week 8: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Wood Framed Buildings

Outcomes

  • Identify two most common deficiencies in wood framed buildings.
  • Evaluate if a wall has sufficient nailing and proper hold downs for a given earthquake intensity.
  • Describe if the floor or roof diaphragm provides sufficient load path to the walls under earthquake forces.

Topics

  • Summary of common seismic deficiencies with wood framed buildings
  • Wood shear wall deficiencies
  • Configuration irregularities in wood buildings
  • Retrofit of reinforced wood buildings 

Week 9: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings

Outcomes

  • Identify three most common deficiencies in unreinforced masonry buildings.
  • Describe the most appropriate of the three evaluation procedures in ASCE 41 for URM building.
  • Explore retrofit options for out-of-plane and in-plane wall deficiencies in unreinforced masonry buildings.

Topics

  • Summary of common seismic deficiencies with wood framed buildings
  • Unreinforced masonry wall out-of-plane deficiencies
  • Unreinforced masonry wall in-of-plane deficiencies
  • Retrofit of reinforced wood buildings 

Week 10: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Reinforced Masonry and Concrete Tilt-Up Buildings

Outcomes

  • Identify the most common deficiency in rigid wall / flexible diaphragm buildings.
  • Learn how to use the deficiency-based procedure to provide a cost-effective retrofit solution for a concrete tilt-up wall building.

Topics

  • Summary of common seismic deficiencies with rigid wall / flexible diaphragm buildings
  • Wall out-of-plane anchorage deficiencies
  • Wall out-of-plane issues
  • Roof diaphragm issues
  • Retrofit of rigid wall / flexible diaphragm buildings

Week 11: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Foundation Systems

Outcomes

  • Identify two common seismic deficiencies with foundation systems.
  • Explore if fixed-based or flexible-base modeling assumptions are appropriate for a specific building.
  • Explain how soil-structure interaction effects affect the seismic response of a structure and when to use them in a building evaluation.
  • Evaluate liquefaction effects on structures based on the three step procedure in ASCE 41.

Topics

  • Summary of common seismic deficiencies with foundation systems
  • Incorporating foundation flexibility in to analysis models
  • Soil structure interaction
  • Liquefaction effects                               

Week 12: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Nonstructural Components

Outcomes

  • Learn how to screen for nonstructural seismic deficiencies using ASCE 41 Tier 1 procedure.
  • Describe and identify nonstructural life safety hazards and hazards that can affect building function.
  • Explain how a building structural retrofit can be used to improve nonstructural performance.

Topics

  • Summary of common 'what are nonstructural' components
  • Life safety hazards
  • Position Retention Nonstructural performance
  • Operational Nonstructural performance
  • Retrofit of nonstructural components
  • Building retrofits to mitigate nonstructural performance

This course outline is subject to change