50 Fremont Center

SGH’s analysis focused on the building’s behavior during seismic events characteristic of the San Andreas Fault and the Hayward Fault. Highlights of our work include:

• Reviewing available structural and architectural drawings
• Visiting the site to compare the existing building structure to the design drawings and to document the condition and configuration of representative steel connections
• Performing linear elastic analyses using site-specific accelerations from U.S. Geological Survey and evaluating performance per ASCE-41 criteria
• Developing a nonlinear analysis model simulating fractured connections, column buckling, and other yielding elements to capture the building’s expected seismic performance up through collapse
• Conducting nonlinear simulations using site-specific hazard response spectra and scaled earthquake time histories to predict the structure’s behavior
• Recommending retrofit options, including adding viscous dampers to improve the structure’s seismic performance