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This course is part of the Structural Earthquake Engineering for Buildings Certificate Program.

INSTRUCTOR: 
Robert G. Pekelnicky, P.E., S.E., M. ASCE

Purpose and Background

As providing sustainable and disaster resilience infrastructure continues to be at the forefront of the national discourse, existing buildings are coming under greater scrutiny. Whether it is an adaptive reuse project triggering a retrofit from the local jurisdiction or an owner looking to enhance the safety of their property, seismic evaluation and retrofit are topics structural engineers are frequently confronted with. This course seeks to demystify the commonly used standards and to explain the differences between seismic evaluation and retrofit of an existing building and new building design.

Benefits and Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Correctly apply the ASCE 41 standard to existing building projects.
• Identify significant seismic deficiencies in concrete, steel, masonry, and wood buildings based on past earthquake performance.
• Streamline seismic evaluation and retrofit design of simple structures through the use of deficiency specific mitigation measures.
• Successfully apply the ASCE 41 standard as mandated by many federal and local jurisdictions.
• Accurately describe how the fundamental concepts of performance-based seismic design relate to existing buildings.
• Select the appropriate performance-level for an existing building based on the building’s function.
• Correctly explain the background behind the current standards for seismic evolution and retrofit of buildings by citing lessons learned from past earthquakes.
• Correctly explain the fundamental difference between new design standards and the standard for evaluation and retrofit of existing buildings.
• Successfully use ASCE 41 Tier 1 screening to identify common seismic deficiencies with various types of older buildings.
• Describe how to use the ASCE 41 Tier 2 evaluation and retrofit procedures to improve the seismic safety of existing buildings.
• Specify which detailed analysis provisions can be used to gain a thorough understanding of the seismic performance of an existing building.
• Identify the correct analysis procedure for an existing building retrofit project based on the building size and structural system.
• Describe how the ASCE 41 standard should be applied to different construction materials and structural systems.
• Prepare the ASCE 41 standard to assess nonstructural seismic hazards.

Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Achievement of the learning outcomes by attendees will be assessed through (3) exams.

Who Should Attend?

• Civil and structural engineers
• Building officials
• Students and faculty in civil and structural engineering

How to Earn your CEUs/PDHs

This course is worth 2.4 CEUs/24 PDHs. To receive your certificate of completion, you will need to complete (3) exams and receive a passing score of 70% or higher.

How do I convert CEUs to PDHs?

1.0 CEU = 10 PDHs [Example: 0.1 CEU = 1 PDH]

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Course Outline

Week 1: History of Earthquake Engineering and Performance-based Seismic Design
Course and Week Introduction
History of Earthquake Engineering
Earthquakes and Modern Buildings
Evolution of Earthquake Design Standards
Learning Exercise
New Building Standards vs. Existing Building Standards
Introduction to Performance-based earthquake engineering
Performance Objectives for Existing Buildings
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 2: Fundamental Concepts of Seismic Evaluation and the ASCE 41 Standard
Week Introduction
Overview and history of ASCE 41
Deficiency-based vs. systematic procedures
Identifying the seismic force resisting system
Learning Exercise
Capacity Design Principals
Displacement-based design
Tying it all together – the ASCE 41 analysis procedures
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 3: Deficiency-Based Seismic Evaluation & Retrofit
Week Introduction
Introduction to Deficiently-based procedures
The Tier 1 Screening
Example Tier 1 Screening
Learning Exercise
Tier 2 – Deficiency-based Evaluation Basics
Tier 2 – Deficiency-based Evaluation
Tier 2 – Deficiency-based Retrofit
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 4: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Steel Moment Frame Buildings
Week Introduction
Building Summary
Tier 1 Screening
Learning Exercise
Building Analysis
Beam and Beam-column connection evaluation
Column Evaluation
Retrofit Strategies
Learning Exercise
Conclusion
Exam: 1-4

Week 5: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Steel Braced Frame Buildings
Week Introduction
Building Summary
Tier 1 Screening
Learning Exercise
Building Analysis
Brace and Brace Connection Evaluation
Frame Beam and Column Evaluation
Braced Frame Retrofit Strategy
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 6: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Moment Frames
Week Introduction
Building Summary
Tier 1 Screening
Learning Exercise
Building Analysis
Beam and Beam-column joint evaluation
Column Evaluation
Frame retrofit options
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 7: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Wall Buildings
Week Introduction
Building Summary
Tier 1 Screening
Learning Exercise
Building Analysis
Wall Evaluation
Secondary frame evaluation
Retrofit Options
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 8: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Wood Framed Buildings
Week Introduction
Building Summary
Tier 1 Screening
Learning Exercise
Building Analysis
Shear Wall Evaluation
Diaphragm Evaluation
Retrofit Options
Learning Exercise
Conclusion
Exam: 5-8

Week 9: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings
Week Introduction
Building Summary
Tier 1 Screening
Learning Exercise
Building Analysis
URM Wall In-plane Evaluation
Wall out-of-plane Evaluation
Retrofit Options
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 10: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Reinforced Masonry and Concrete Tilt-Up Buildings
Week Introduction
Building Summary
Tier 1 Screening
Learning Exercise
Building Analysis
Wall in and out-of-plane evaluation
Roof diaphragm Evaluation
Retrofit Summary
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 11: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Foundation Systems
Week Introduction
Foundation modeling options
Braced frame fixed base Found Evaluation
Shear wall flexible base model
Learning Exercise
Soil Structure Interaction Introduction
Soil Structure Interaction Calculations
Learning Exercise
Liquefaction Analysis Overview
Conclusion

Week 12: Seismic Evaluation and retrofit of Nonstructural Components
Week Introduction
Nonstructural Performance Levels
Nonstructural Life Safety
Nonstructural Position Retention
Operational Nonstructural Performance
Learning Exercise
Tier 1 – Screening
Learning Exercise
Tier 3 – Nonstructural Evaluation
Conclusion
Exam: Week 9-12