October 17, 2019

Suggested Improvements on Mandatory Wood “Soft Story” Retrofits

By: Russell McLellan, Keith Palmer, Kenneth Tam, Daniel Zepeda, Michael Mehrain, Garrett Hagen, Jonathan Buckalew, Milad Oliaee

The “soft story” wood frame retrofit ordinances adopted by many California cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco are the largest of their kind. These ordinances mitigate a deficiency known to cause collapse in past...

Keywords:Ordinance, Retrofit/Upgrade, Seismic Engineering and Retrofit, Soft Story
October 17, 2019

SEAOC Resilience Committee Update and Report to the Membership

By: Ronald Mayes, Jonathan Buckalew, Anna Lang, Katie Wade

The engineering community has made great progress on improving building performance. Performance based design is now widely accepted in national standards. New tools (FEMA P58 and SP3) have been developed to evaluate the impacts of earthquakes on...

Keywords:Resiliency
October 17, 2019

San Francisco Nonductile Concrete Buildings Part II: Analysis, Assessment and Comparison of Older San Francisco Concrete Buildings

By: Keith Palmer, Scott Darling, Sunny Nguyen, Megan Pouliot, Pearl Ranchal, Erick Gerardo Garcia Chavez, Duke Crestfield, Stephen Kadysiewski, Robert Kraus, Katie Wade

The building stock of large metropolitan areas comprise buildings of various materials constructed over the course of many years. A significant number of these buildings utilized concrete construction with details drastically different than...

Keywords:Concrete, Seismic Engineering and Retrofit
September 26, 2019

Combating Condensation at the National Air and Space Museum

By: Brian Rose, Richard Renaud

This article discusses the condensation analysis and CFD modeling that SGH performed for the ongoing revitalization project at the National Air and Space Museum.

It is ...

September 26, 2019

Energy, Hygrothermal, and Freeze-Thaw Considerations for Insulating Mass Masonry Walls

By: David Artigas, Sean OBrien

This paper discusses energy modeling and previous research regarding freeze-thaw masonry deterioration to challenge common assumptions about the benefits and risks of insulating masonry walls.

It is...

Keywords:Freeze-Thaw, Masonry
September 13, 2019

Case Study Investigating Probabilistic and Deterministic Sampling Methods for Developing In-Structure Response Spectra: Phase II

By: Riccardo Cappa, Andrew Appelbaum, Frederic Grant

The goal of this ongoing, multi-phase research project is to assess the accuracy of simplified deterministic sampling methods used in practice to estimate seismic structural response compared to more rigorous probabilistic sampling approaches....

Markets:Nuclear
Keywords:Seismic Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA)
September 13, 2019

A Probabilistic Assessment of PWR SNF Rod Pinching Failure Considering Hydride-Related Cladding Embrittlement

By: Ricardo Medina, Elmar Eidelpes, Luis F. Ibarra

A probabilistic assessment of the likelihood of PWR SNF rod failure considering hydride-related cladding embrittlement after dry storage cool-down of 300 years is presented. The investigated rod failure mechanism is cladding cracking caused by...

Markets:Nuclear
Keywords:Seismic Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA)
September 13, 2019

Numerical Simulation of a Transportation Cask and Transmissibility due to 0.3 M Drop

By: Ricardo Medina, Shokoufeh Zargar, Luis F. Ibarra

In the absence of experimental and measured data, a reliable numerical model is needed to predict the performance of fuel assemblies after extended storage, including acceleration and strain of fuel rods due to impact and vibration, and quantify...

Markets:Nuclear
Keywords:Risk Assessment
September 13, 2019

Partial Correlation and Dependence Between Seismic Fragilities of Multiple Adjacent Structures with Significant Soil-Structure-Interaction Effects

By: Mohamed Talaat, Robert P. Kennedy

Seismic Probabilistic Risk Assessment (SPRA) of nuclear power plants (NPPs) is typically performed using three major analysis components: probabilistic seismic hazard, seismic fragility, and plant response. The fragility analysis develops...

Markets:Nuclear
Keywords:Seismic Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA)
September 13, 2019

Case Study: Cable Tray Seismic Fragility Evaluation Involving Ductile Failure of a Cold-Formed Steel Section in Flexure

By: Michael Perkins, Frederic Grant

This paper presents a case study for a recent seismic fragility evaluation of cable trays at a nuclear power plant in the United States. The evaluation was initiated due to the presence of non-serrated strut nuts in cable tray supports throughout...

Markets:Nuclear
Keywords:Seismic Analyses

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