PEER Reports

PEER Reports

Experimental Investigation of the Behavior of Vintage and Retrofit Concentrically Braced Steel Frames under Cyclic Loading, PEER Report 2017-12

Barbara G. Simpson
Stephen A. Mahin
Jiun-Wei Lai
2017

The parallel evolution of seismic design provisions and braced-frame research has led to inconsistencies between the design and construction of braced frames and the development of modern seismic design codes and now-typical detailing requirements. Since literature on concentrically braced frames (CBFs) spans over several decades, existing older or vintage concentrically braced frames–especially those designed prior 1988–may be prone to a number of deficiencies that are now limited in new CBFs due to contemporary seismic design requirements.

The number and range of these...

Preliminary Studies on the Dynamic Response of a Seismically Isolated Prototype Gen-IV Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (PGSFR), PEER Report 2017-11

Benshun Shao
Andreas Schellenberg
Matthew Schoettler
Stephen A. Mahin
2017

The KEPCO Engineering and Construction Company, Inc. (KEPCO E&C) is developing a Prototype Gen-IV Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (PGSFR). Preliminary evaluations of the behavior of the isolated PGSFR when subjected to seismic and aircraft impact loading conditions were conducted to support design efforts by KEPCO E&C. Results and key findings of these analyses are as follows: (i) because isolator deformations are typically quite small for the considered seismic excitation levels, the benefit of seismic isolation could be enhanced with revised isolator designs that reduce the apparent...

Report of the Eighth Planning Meeting of NEES/E-Defense Collaborative Research on Earthquake Engineering, PEER Report 2011-101

Convened by the Hyogo Earthquake Engineering Research Center (NIED), NEES Consortium, Inc.
2011

Following an agreement between the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the First Planning Meeting for NEES/E-Defense Collaboration on Earthquake Engineering Research was held in 2004. This meeting laid the groundwork for a joint research program related to improving understanding of seismic effects and thereby reducing the seismic vulnerability of buildings and civil infrastructural systems. The emphasis of the program is to conduct experimental research using the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for...

Seismic Risk Management in Urban Areas, PEER Report 2011-07

Proceedings of a U.S.-Iran-Turkey Seismic Workshop December 14-16, 2010, Istanbul, Turkey
2011

The U.S.-Iran-Turkey seismic workshop was held on December 14-16, 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey. The workshop was supported by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Bogazici University−Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Turkey; Sharif University of Technology, Iran; and the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California Berkeley, USA. The theme of this workshop was Seismic Risk Management in Urban Areas. This report contains the collection of papers presented at the 2010 seismic workshop.

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Case Studies of the Seismic Performance of Tall Buildings Designed by Alternative Means, PEER Report 2011-05

Jack Moehle
Yousef Bozorgnia
Nirmal Jayaram
Pierson Jones
Mohsen Rahnama
Nilesh Shome
Zeynep Tuna
John Wallace
Tony Yang
Farzin Zareian
2011

This report was completed to fulfill the final reporting requirements to the California Seismic Safety Commission under Contract No. SSC-2007-16 and California Emergency Management Agency under Contract No. FEMA-1628-DR-CA, OES-0005. These contracts provided financial support to conduct tall buildings case studies for testing the Performance-Based Seismic Design Guidelines for Tall Buildings developed under the Tall Buildings Initiative of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley. In addition to California Seismic Safety...

Urban Earthquake Engineering, PEER Report 2013-26

Proceedings of the U.S.-Iran Seismic Workshop
2013

The 4th U.S.-Iran Seismic Workshop was held on December 18-20, 2012 in Tehran, Iran. The workshop was supported by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Sharif University of Technology, Iran, and the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, USA. The theme of the workshop was Urban Earthquake Engineering. This report contains the collection of papers presented at the 2012 seismic workshop.

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Structural Response and Cost Characterization of Bridge Construction Using Seismic Performance Enhancement Strategies, PEER Report 2010-01

Ady Aviram
Bozidar Stojadinovic
Gustavo J. Parra-Montesinos
Kevin R. Mackie
2010

The improved seismic performance and cost-effectiveness of two innovative performance enhancement technologies in typical reinforced concrete bridge construction in California were assessed in analytical and experimental studies. The technologies considered were lead rubber bearing isolators underneath the superstructure and fiber-reinforced concrete for the construction of bridge columns.

Pushover and time history analyses were carried out for the different bridge systems. The analytical model of the fiber-reinforced concrete bridge was calibrated based on bidirectional cyclic...

Shear Wave Velocity as a Statistical Function of Standard Penetration Test Resistance and Vertical Effective Stress at Caltrans Bridge Sites, PEER Report 2010-03

Scott J. Brandenberg
Naresh Bellana
Thomas Shantz
2010

Shear wave velocity, Vs, is defined as a statistical function of SPT blow count, N60, and vertical effective stress, σv', using a data set collected at various California bridge sites. At each site, Vs measurements were recorded by suspension logging in the same borehole in which N60 was measured. Regression analysis was used to derive statistical relations for sand, silt, and clay soil types. The relation between Vs and N60 is shown to depend strongly on σv', since Vs and N60 normalize differently with...

In-Situ Monitoring of the Force Output of Fluid Dampers: Experimental Investigation, PEER Report 2011-103

Dimitrios Konstantinidis
James M. Kelly
Nicos Makris
2011

An alarming problem of leaking dampers has emerged in recent years in some California bridges, such as the west span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and the Vincent Thomas Bridge crossing the Los Angeles Harbor. This reports presents the results of an experimental testing program that was undertaken to develop and validate a simple and reliable way to monitor the force output of viscous fluid dampers in bridges.

The research includes indoor and outdoor experiments on two medium-size (250 kips at 42 in/sec piston velocity, ±8.0 in. stroke capacity) and two...

Design and Instrumentation of the 2010 E-Defense Four-Story Reinforced Concrete and Post-Tensioned Concrete Buildings, PEER Report 2011-104

Takuya Nagae
Kenichi Tahara
Taizo Matsumori
Hitoshi Shiohara
Susumu Kono
Minehiro Nishiyama
John Wallace
Wassim Ghannoum
Jack Moehle
Richard Sause
Wesley Keller
Zeynep Tuna
2011

This study reports on a collaborative research on the design, instrumentation, and preliminary analytical studies of two, full-scale, four-story buildings tested simultaneously on the NIED E-Defense shake table in December 2010. The two buildings are similar, with the same height and floor plan; one building utilized a conventional reinforced concrete (RC) structural system with shear walls and moment frames, whereas the other utilized the same systems constructed with post-tensioned (PT) members. The buildings were subjected to increasing intensity shaking using the JMA-Kobe record until...