PEER Reports

PEER Reports

Van Nuys Hotel Building Testbed Report: Exercising Seismic Performance Assessment, PEER Report 2005-11

Helmut Krawinkler
2005

Beginning with the Year 5 Research Program, PEER established a series of PEER Methodology Testbeds. The testbeds are real facilities, inventories of facilities, or networks to which the PEER performance-based earthquake engineering assessment methodologies can be applied. The primary purpose of the testbeds is to assess the applicability of the methodologies and foster their refinement. The testbeds serve supple mentary purposes such as further focusing and integrating the research, promoting multi-disciplinary research interactions, emphasizing systems-level research, and involving...

PEER Testbed Study on a Laboratory Building: Exercising Seismic Performance Assessment, PEER Report 2005-12

Mary C. Comerio
2005

From 2002 to 2004 (years five and six of a ten-year funding cycle), the PEER Center organized the majority of its research around six testbeds. Two buildings and two bridges, a campus, and a transportation network were selected as case st udies to “exercise” the PEER performance-based earthquake engineering methodology. All projects involved in terdisciplinary teams of researchers, each producing data to be used by other colleagues in their research. The testbeds demonstrated that it is possible to create the data necessary to populate the PEER performance- based framing equation, linking...

Stochastic Characterization and Decision Bases under Time-Dependent Aftershock Risk in Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering, PEER Report 2005-13

Gee Liek Yeo
C. Allin Cornell
2005

This report addresses the broad role of aftershocks in the Performance-based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) process. This is an area which has, to date, not received careful scrutiny nor explicit quantitative analysis.

We begin by introducing Aftershock Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (APSHA). APSHA, similar to conventional mainshock PSHA, is a procedure to characterize the time- varying aftershock ground motion hazard at a site. We next show a methodology to quan- tify, in probabilistic terms, the multi-damage-state capacity of buildings in different post- mainshock damage...

Workshop on Modeling of Nonlinear Cyclic Load- Deformation Behavior of Shallow Foundations, PEER Report 2005-14

Bruce L. Kutter
Geoffrey Martin
Tara Hutchinson
Chad Harden
Sivapalan Gajan
Justin Phalen
2005

A PEER-sponsored workshop on the nonlinear cyclic load-deformation behavior of shallow foundations was held at UC Davis on March 5, 2003. This report contains all of the documents distributed for discussion prior to that workshop and closes with a summary chapter based on workshop discussions.

Goals of the Workshop:

To disseminate a summary of research findings from the PEER multi-campus research project on shallow foundations and to discuss a plan for future related research. To receive feedback from structural engineers, practicing engineers, and geotechnical peers to improve...

CPT-Based Probabilistic Assessment of Seismic Soil Liquefaction Initiation, PEER Report 2005-15

Robb Eric S. Moss
R. B. Seed
Robert E. Kayen
Johnathan P. Stewart
Armen Der Kiureghian
2005

The correlation of seismic field performance with in situ index test results has been proven to be a reliable method for defining the threshold between liquefaction a nd non-liquefaction. The objective of this research was to define, in the most accurate and unbiased manner possible, the initiation of seismic soil liquefaction using the cone penetration te st (CPT). Contained in this report are the results of this research.

Case histories of occurrence and non-occurrence of soil liquefaction were collected from seismic events that occurred over the past three decades. These...

Seismic Response and Reliability of Electrical Substation Equipment and Systems, PEER Report 2005-16

Junho Song
Armen Der Kiureghian
Jerome L. Sackman
2005

Continued operation of critical lifelines after a major earthquake is essential for reduction of losses, timely delivery of emergency services, and post-earthquake recovery. An important element within the power transmission lifeline is the electrical substation, which serves to transform the power voltage for distribution in local grids. The electrical substation typically consists of a complex set of equipment items that are interconnected through either assemblies of rigid-bus and flexible connectors or through flexible cable conductors.

Estimating the seismic response and...

Earthquake Simulator Tests on Reducing Residual Displacements of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns, PEER Report 2005-17

Junichi Sakai
Stephen A. Mahin
Andres Espinoza
2005

Bridge columns located in regions of high seismicity are generally designed with a large ductility capacity. Although this design strategy is both economical and prevents collapse, such columns develop high ductility demands when subjected to strong-ground motion, resulting in large permanent displacements. To minimize such residual displacements in reinforced concrete (RC) columns, a design is proposed whereby longitudinal post-tensioning strands replace some of usual longitudinal mild reinforcing bars. The seismic performance of such partially prestressed RC columns under near-field...

Bracing Berkeley: A Guide to Seismic Safety on the UC Berkeley Campus, PEER Report 2006-01

Mary C. Comerio
Stephen Tobriner
Ariane Fehrenkamp
2006

Although the campus of the University of California, Berkeley has never been damaged by a major earthquake, it has undertaken one of the most comprehensive and costly seismic retrofit programs in history. After great earthquakes whole cities have been reconstructed and surviving buildings retrofitted, but at the University of California, Berkeley, it was the threat of future earthquakes that galvanized the administration, the faculty and staff to act. As of the centennial of the 1906 earthquake, most of the hazardous buildings have been retrofitted or demolished and replaced with new...

Highway Demonstration Project, PEER Report 2006-02

Anne Kiremidjian
James Moore
Yue Yue Fan
Nesrin Basoz
Ozgur Yazali
Meredith Williams
2006

A method for earthquake risk assessment of transportation network systems is presented that considers loss from damage to bridges and from opportunity costs from trips forgone due to increased traffic congestion. Earthquake hazards include ground shaking, landslides, and liquefaction. Transportation network analysis models are developed with fixed and variable travel demand assumptions. The method is applied to five counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Four scenario earthquakes are defined: moment magnitude 7.0 and 7.5 events on the Hayward fault, and 7.5 and 8.0 events on the San...

Performance of Lifelines Subjected to Lateral Spreading, PEER Report 2006-03

Scott A. Ashford
Teerawut Juirnarongrit
2006

This report presents the results of full-scale lateral spreading tests in the port of Tokachi on Hokkaido Island, Japan, to assess the behavior of piles and pipelines subjected to lateral spreading. This research project was the joint collaboration between the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and several Japanese organizations. Controlled blasting was used to liquefy the soil and subsequently induce lateral spreading in the 4–6% surface slope test beds. Several instrumentations including pore-pressure transducers, global positioning (GPS) units, and inclinometers, were installed...