Earthquake risk reduction

News and Updates

The remains of what was once a home improvement store in Joplin, Mo., showing the destructive power of the tornado that struck the area in May 2011.

NIST Awards $6.6 Million for Research to Help Structures Better Withstand Earthquakes, Wind and Fire

August 8, 2019

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is awarding more than $6.6 million to fund research

NIST Details Steps to Keep Buildings Functioning After Natural Hazards

August 21, 2018

After an earthquake, hurricane, tornado or other natural hazard, it’s considered a win if no one gets hurt and buildings stay standing. But an even bigger

Cornell University engineers testing a novel earthquake-resilient pipeline

NIST Funds 12 Projects to Make Communities More Resilient to Disasters

August 2, 2017

Using biological materials as flame retardants, defining the characteristics of soil liquefaction during earthquakes and collecting disaster data with aerial

Chile Quake at Epicenter of Expanding Disaster and Failure Data Repository

April 26, 2016

Feb. 27, 2010, is a date that most Chileans will probably never forget. On that day, the sixth strongest earthquake in recorded history—packing a force greater

Projects and Programs

Energy-based collapse assessment of framed structures for performance-based seismic engineering

The onset of structural collapse is used as the acceptance criterion in performance-based seismic engineering, but there is no consensus on how to define

Validation of ASCE 41 Procedures in PBSE

Structural engineers are increasingly using Performance-Based Seismic Engineering (PBSE), instead of building code-based prescriptive procedures, in the design

Performance-Based Seismic Engineering (PBSE) for New Buildings Project

Structural collapse demand and capacity are not clearly defined or directly simulated in current Performance-Based Seismic Engineering (PBSE) methodology

Assessment of Available Collapse Simulation Methods for Use in Performance-Based Seismic Engineering Project

While it is a key aspect of structural analyses that support current Performance-Based Seismic Engineering (PBSE), "structural collapse" is not clearly defined

Publications

Application of ASCE 41 to a two-story CFS building

October 23, 2020

Author(s)

Matthew S. Speicher, Zhidong Zhang, Benjamin W. Schafer

The objective of this paper is to summarize the evaluation results from applying the updated performance-based seismic design provisions: ASCE 41-17, on a cold

Seismic Evaluation of a 2-Story Cold-Formed Steel Framed Building using ASCE 41-17

September 29, 2020

Author(s)

Matthew S. Speicher, Ivana Olivares, Benjamin W. Schafer

The objective of this report is to assess the adequacy of new provisions in ASCE 41 for seismic assessment of cold-formed steel framed buildings. A two-story

IDENTIFICATION OF GEOMETRIC NONLINEARITY FORMULATIONS AND THE INFLUENCES ON STRUCTURAL DYNAMIC RESPONSES

September 15, 2020

Author(s)

Kevin K. Wong

Both ASCE/SEI 7-16 and ASCE/SEI 41-17 design standards require that P-D effects be included in the nonlinear dynamic analysis procedure for designing new and

RECOMMENDED OPTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE FUNCTIONAL RECOVERY OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

September 15, 2020

Author(s)

Siamak Sattar, Katherine J. Johnson

During a strong earthquake, commercial and residential buildings designed to meet current building codes and standards may sustain damage that significantly