Seismic Design: Past, Present and Future (Interactive)

In Seismic Design: Past, Present and Future, you'll learn ...

• The background and progression of structural seismic concepts
• The relative merits of the eight basic steel-frame designs that have been used in multi-story buildings
• The evolution of concrete building frameworks
• The use of building configurations and contemporary high-performance seismic mechanisms for energy dissipation

Overview

Preview a portion of this interactive course before purchasing it. The course must be viewed on your computer or mobile device.

Credit: 2 PDH

Design of any building is a challenge for architects and engineers, and the challenge is made more complex when there is a need to provide for earthquake resistance.

During the past 100 years, seismic design philosophy and details have progressed from simply considering earthquakes to be the same as wind loads, to a sophisticated understanding of the phenomenon of the earthshaking that induces a building response.

This course covers the 100-year history of seismic structural systems, ranging from simple to sophisticated solutions. Basic structural behavior is outlined; guidance for selecting a good structural system is suggested, and relevant seismic issues are explored.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

• A summary of 100 years of structural seismic design
• Current and historical structural seismic systems, ranging from pre-1906 San Francisco earthquake to present day
• Three main factors that have impacted the progression of seismic systems selected by structural engineers
• The many variables that make it difficult to select an appropriate seismic system
• Why the simple building code approach to seismic design is often inadequate
• Why lateral drift that is too large or too small results in seismic performance issues
• “Pushover” performance comparisons of six different structural systems for a 4-story building
• Why energy dissipation is an important factor in a building’s overall seismic performance
• Energy dissipating concepts developed in 1976 at the New Zealand National Laboratory
• Seismic performance characteristics, including non-linear drift, energy dissipation and cyclic behavior, for twenty different structural systems
• Why building configuration is frequently the governing factor in the ultimate seismic behavior of a particular structure

Certificate of Completion

You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 10 questions. PDH credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.