Retrofitting for a New Life in Power
Despite continued growth in energy demands, electric utilities in the U.S. aren't building many new powerplants these days, due to the economic and regulatory roadblocks they...
Life-Safety, Key to Seismic Evaluation
Most buildings in the U.S. don't meet modern standards for withstanding potential damage from possible earthquakes, and existing buildings present one of the greatest risks...
Seismic Risk to Natural Gas and Oil Systems
This paper begins with a brief summary of significant earthquake damage to gas and oil lifeline systems during several earthquakes. Following this discussion, the objectives and major...
Seismic Reliability of Hierarchical Lifeline Systems
The problem to be considered here is the vulnerability and reliability of a functionally as well as physically hierarchical lifeline system. Most major lifeline systems have this feature;...
Mitigation of Seismic Effects on Water Systems
Historically, earthquakes have caused damage to water systems. In this paper, water system facilities at risk due to seismic activity as well as potential damage mechanisms are identified....
Seismic Damage and Retrofit of Bridges in California
Since 1971, the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) has retrofitted about 1300 bridges to improve their seismic resistance. CALTRANS has investigated 13 earthquakes since...
Sylmar HVDC Converter Station East Seismic Design
The Sylmar Converter Station East in Los Angeles receives power from the Northwest via the Pacific HVDC Intertie, a ?500 kV dc transmission line. At Sylmar, the energy is converted to...
Designng to a Fault
Engineers designed a $30 million expansion of one of the Port of Los Angeles' busiest shipping terminals for a site sitting over the Palos Verdes Fault. Because closing the...
The Eccentric Entrance
Architects design irregularly shaped buildings to give their clients something different, and this creates problems for structural engineers, especially in earthquake zones. The Brinderson...
Massive Resistance
The recently completed structural reinforcement of the 95 year old landmark Salt Lake City & County building, and its 250 ft high central clocktower, is believed to be the first...
Real World Analysis
The structural concepts, seismic analysis and design of five recent highrise structures is presented in this paper. The paper deals with the problem of multistory buildings having Structural...
For Want of a Bolt...
While counterfeit bolt-nut imports make sensational headlines, civil engineers should be more concerned with actual construction problems that have arisen in the past decade. Experts say...
Seismic Design and Construction of Complex Civil Engineering Systems
This publication presents information about practices for planning, designing, and constructing civil engineering systems for mitigating earthquake effects. Concepts dealing with defining...
A Safe Skyscraper For the Seismic City
When completed in late 1989, the 73-story First International World Center will be the tallest office building in Los Angeles. The steel structure of the building was designed to be ductile...
Caissons Skirt a Tunnel
Exchange Place Center is a 490 ft, 30 story office tower built directly over the existing transportation hub in Jersey City, N.J., where trains and buses meet the PATH Tubes that carry...
Minipiles Mature in America
After being born more than 40 years ago in Europe, minipiles are maturing in the United States. Their distinctive feature is a relatively small diameter, rarely larger than 12 in. Constructing...
Making Use of Contaminated Soils
Using hot-mix asphalt (HMA) is one answer to contaminated soil. HMA plants can be modified to accept some contaminated soil�a boon not only to the generator of the soil but the asphalt...
Seismic Cutoff
The John Hart Dam, which is a 40-year old dam in British Vancouver, Canada, has been rehabilitated to meet current seismic codes. BC Hydro, the utility that owns the dam, conducted a study...
Load and Resistance Factor Design for Engineered Wood Construction
A Pre-Standard Report
The information contained in this pre-standard report is intended to provide guidance to writers of a load and resistance factor design (LRFD) specification for engineered wood construction....
Swedish Approach to Infiltration and Percolation Design
Design of infiltration and percolation facilities is similar to detention facilities. The storage volume of an infiltration basin being the ponding volume on top of the infiltration surface...
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