The New Zealand earthquake surprised engineers by triggering severe damage or collapse of some recently constructed buildings. Photo: AP Photo/Kyodo News, Shuzo Shikano Rescue workers search for victims buried under the rubble near the Canterbury Television building in Christchurch, New Zealand, Wednesday night, Feb. 23, 2011. The magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck 10 km from Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on Feb. 22 brought down or severely damaged some contemporary structures because the quake was extremely shallow—centered only 5 km below the surface. “New Zealand has very good loading standards and a strict regulatory environment and since the mid-70s onwards,
The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center is calling on seismic engineers, government agencies and researchers to try out a “live” beta version of a web-based interactive tool that will allow them—free of charge—to search, extract and download recorded ground motions for the analysis and design of earthquake-resistant structures. Seismic engineers familiar with the tool are already lauding it, especially for use in performance-based earthquake engineering. Photo: Courtesy of Peer Web-based app lets engineers explore many seismic scenarios. The 2010 PEER Ground Motion Database allows users to select ground-motion records to match the seismic code’s response spectrum or a customized site-specific
Code crafters are lauding a significant process change in reference-standard development that provides markers for progress along the way, directional signals for reaching goals and validation of the standard’s potential impact on energy use and cost. The process, based on energy modeling and analysis, helped the developers of the 2010 edition of the commercial-building energy standard reach their goal of providing a standard that, if followed, could result in a whopping 30% reduction in both energy use and costs compared with use of the standard’s 2004 edition. Crafters of the next edition of the energy standard already are using the
Earlier-than-expected changes to ConsensusDOCS, the three-and-a-half-year-old library of model contracts for building design and construction, have been welcomed by lawyers who say the update not only enhances the original documents but demonstrates a development process responsive to industry changes. ConsensusDOCS, a coalition of 31 industry groups and a rival of the American Institute of Architects and other standard-agreement developers, says more improvements are coming soon. Photo: Russell Witherington - Fotolia.com ConsensusDOCS released the update on Jan. 19, at least 18 months ahead of the originally envisioned five-year revision cycle. One rationale is that “the economics of the construction industry today
History keeps disproving predictions that the supertall skyscraper, as a developer’s building type, was destroyed when the two 110-story towers of New York City’s World Trade Center went down. Last year alone, 66 towers taller than 200 meters opened their doors, breaking the 2007 record of 48. Of these, eight are taller than 300 m, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which is the keeper of the tall-building flame. CTBUH predicts 97 more 200-m-plus high-rises will have ribbon-cuttings next year, including more than 20 taller than 300 m, which the group dubs “supertalls.” “Immediately following the
Structural engineers in earthquake zones, long struggling to push the needle forward on seismic design of tall buildings, are celebrating the availability of a new design methodology. They are hailing the tool, in the form of an 84-page guide for performance-based seismic design of high-rises, as a great step forward in developing better-performing buildings that are more economical and constructible. In addition, engineers expect the guide to take some of the agita Photo: Mark Defeo Guide will ease approvals, which were difficult and lengthy for One Rincon Hill (right) and two Infinity towers (left). Guidelines for Performance-Based Seismic Design of
An extensive program to survey and monitor the structural behavior and dynamic responses of the world’s tallest structure—the 828-meter Burj Khalifa in Dubai—has done more than validate the structural engineer’s design concepts. It could help improve future supertowers, says the keeper of the program. The monitoring system, which includes myriad sensors, will become a model for assessing critical and essential facilities, predicts Ahmad Abdelrazaq, an executive vice president of Samsung C&T Corp., Seoul, the burj’s lead builder. Photo: Courtesy Of Emaar Properties Monitoring shows performance of the 828-m-tall Burj Khalifa is better than expected. The program “has given us information
Gustavo J. Parra-Montesinos is coming to the rescue of concrete-frame designers and contractors in earthquake country, long bedeviled by rebar-congested coupling beams that span openings in seismic shear walls.
The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Jeffrey M. Baker is an agent of change. Thanks to his vision and leadership, building teams across the U.S. can avail themselves of the first field-tested, replicable performance-based design-build model for affordable, ultra-energy-efficient buildings.
