Reliability Models for Bridge Structures
The development of rational design criteria requires efficient measures of structural performance. Traditional methods of analysis do not reveal the actual safety reserve (degree of redundancy)....
Codified Reliability for Structures During Construction
It is generally acknowledged that the most critical stage of a structure's lifetime is that of construction, leading to failures or locking in forces and deformations that...
An Education in Tunneling
In this follow-up to the author's article in the April 1989 issue of Civil Engineering, this senior civil engineer and winner of the 1988 Martin Kapp Foundation Engineering...
Hydrogeology Comes to the Surface
Before concluding whether groundwater is safe or contaminated, engineers must understand the science of hydrogeology. If they don't understand hydrogeology, unnecessary and...
Reliable Displacements from Integrated Quick-Release Accelerograms
A new baseline correction method has been developed which allows accelerograms collected during quick-release tests of full scale structures to be doubly integrated to displacements. The...
Rapid Visual Screening of Buildings for Potential Seismic Hazards
A Rapid Screening Procedure (RSP) developed for use nation-wide is based on a 'sidewalk survey' of a building, in which a Data Collection Form is completed by...
Forced Vibration of Sliding Base Structural Systems
An analytical and experimental study of the effect of a horizontal sliding plane on the dynamic response of a single-story structure subjected to harmonic motion is presented. There is...
Friction-Dampers for Economic Seismic Design
A novel structural system, which combines the strength and stiffness of a braced frame and energy dissipation capacity of the friction-dampers, has been used in the design of a reinforced...
System Identification of Meloland Road Overcrossing
The Meloland Road Overcrossing (MRO) is a two-span reinforced concrete bridge structure located east of El Centro, California, 0.3 mi from the Imperial Fault. The Imperial Valley Earthquake...
System Identification of a Large Structure Using Pseudo-Dynamic Test Data
This paper deals with structural modeling and the determination of optimal nonlinear models by applying system identification techniques to inelastic pseudo-dynamic test data from a full-scale,...
Tradeoffs Between Active Control and Identification of Structural Systems
This paper explores the tradeoffs between structural identification and structural control in a quantitative manner. Through the intemediary concept of an optimal input, it is shown that...
Biaxial Damage Assessment
The structural system under investigation is a frame subject to seismic excitations. The analysis accounts for the spatial distribution of beams, columns and bracing system. It also considers...
Seismic Isolation of a Flight Simulator Manufacturing Facility
The corporate headquarters of Evans & Sutherland is located in the University of Utah Research Park which is in Salt Lake City, Utah. A major fault runs through Salt Lake City...
Seismic Repair, Restoration and/or Upgrading of Existing Buildings
The ultimate goal of this paper is to discuss the selection of the most efficient (optimal) strategies and techniques for upgrading an existing building. To achieve this goal, it was considered...
Historic Background of Seismic Construction in San Francisco
A seismic design and construction tradition has developed in California because of the unique experience with local earthquakes. After the 1906 earthquake and fire, building performance...
Assessment of Transmission Line Foundations
Electric utilities are faced with the need to build new transmission lines or to upgrade existing lines to meet future demands. Because of economic constraints and the difficulty of obtaining...
A Geotechnical Analysis System with Applications for Drilled Shaft Foundations
The development and components of a geotechnical analysis system are described and illustrated for drilled shaft foundations. This finite element-based analysis system incorporates several...
Some Expert System Applications in Geotechnical Engineering
Knowledge-based expert systems (KBES) represent a new technology for computer-aided engineering. These systems can be useful in situations which involve expert judgments for effective...
Patterns of Erosion Along the Atlantic Coast
Shoreline erosion data are needed in the implementation of recent legislation that authorizes the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to provide advance insurance payments for the...
The Coastal Management Program in Brazil
As a proposal to guide the rational utilization of coastal resources, the Brazilian government established the National Coastal Zone Management Plan (PNGC), according to the Federal Law...
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