NEHRP Clearinghouse

Title
Damage Probability Matrices for Prototype Buildings. Seismic Design Decision Analysis, Report No. 8.
File
PB295059.pdf
Author(s)
Whitman, R. V.
Source
National Science Foundation, Washington, DC. Applied Science and Research Applications., October 1973, 117 p.
Identifying Number(s)
['R73-57', 'STRUCTURES PUB-380']
Abstract
This report presents the damage probability matrices (DPM) for multi-story buildings, developed from documentation of actual earthquake damage, theoretical analysis, and judgment. This effort was specifically aimed at developing DPM for the pilot application of Seismic Design Decision Analysis to multi-story buildings in Boston. More particularly, the DPM presented in this report are intended to apply to five- to twenty-story buildings with reinforced concrete frames or shear walls or with steel frames. To provide a basis for the theoretical approach, several buildings were designed to the point of determining structural layout and the sizes and properties of structural members. In all cases, the layout of the building conformed to common practice in the Boston area and the designs complied with local code requirements including wind loading. For each building, designs were prepared using the seismic requirements of the Uniform Building Code for Zones 0, 1, 2, and 3 and for a Superzone S having twice the lateral force required for Zone 3. In general, the seismic requirements influenced the structural design only for Zones 2, 3 and S. The study was done in two stages. Firstly, an actual existing 13-story steel frame building ('pilot building') was redesigned for various levels of earthquake resistance. Then designs were prepared for a series of hypothetical buildings ('prototype buildings') having dimensions and layout typical of apartment buildings now being constructed in the Boston area.
Keywords
Probability theory; Seismic design; Earthquake resistant structures; Dynamic loads; Massachusetts; Wind loads; Seismic risk; Structural design; Earthquake engineering; Boston (Massachusetts); Damage assesment; Commercial buildings; Building codes