Are the Soil Depositions in Mexico City Unique?
The answer clearly is: YES| However, the amplification and soil-structure interaction effects observed in Mexico City are important considerations - even if they may not be so severe -in...
Soil-Structure Interaction in Mexico City During the 1985 Earthquakes
The effects of the flexibility of the soil and the foundation on the seismic response of structures, by opposition to clear foundation failures, cannot be easily identified from a simple...
Seismic Design Criteria for Foundations on Control Piles
Control piles have been widely used in Mexico City for underpinning buildings with excessive settlements caused by the consolidation of the soft clay deposits, and as a foundation solution...
Preliminary Dynamic Analyses of the Ministry of Agriculture Building
The Ministry of Agriculture building on Avenida San Antonio Abad was originally constructed as a 17 story reinforced concrete structure using a waffle slab system with interior reinforced...
Implications of Structural Characteristics on Failure
Performance of buildings with two common structural types, many of which suffered heavy structural damage or collapse, are analyzed. Conclusions are drawn that no structural type is inadequate,...
Observations on Structural Pounding
In over 40% of the collapsed or severely damaged buildings in Mexico City, pounding of adjacent buildings occurred, and in at least 15% was the primary cause of collapse. The main objectives...
R/C Frame Drift for 1985 Mexico Earthquake
This paper contains the results of a parametric study of the displacement response of multi-story reinforced concrete frames. Nonlinear lateral displacement responses were calculated for...
Evaluation of Performance of Concrete Buildings Damaged by the September 19, 1985 Mexico Earthquake
As a part of a general evaluation of the structural behavior of buildings during the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City, a detailed study of 8 damaged concrete buildings has been performed....
Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Framing Systems
On September 19, 1985, Mexico City was hit by what is believed to have been the most damaging earthquake in its recorded history. In this report, a ground motion recorded in the severely...
Performance of Steel Structures
A description of the various types of steel structures built in Mexico City is made, including comparisons of the older types of steel construction with more modern buildings. Performance...
Seismic Rehabilitation: Why, When and How
Common methods of seismic rehabilitation are: repair of cracks, reconstruction of structural elements, addition of stiffening elements, and addition of dampers. A major consideration is...
Damage Assessment and Seismic Behaviour of Steel Buildings in Mexico City
Preliminary reports on the September 1985 earthquakes indicated 10 steel buildings collapsed and 2 more severely damaged. The total number of buildings found either collapsed or severely...
Repairing and Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Buildings Damaged in the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake
This paper describes briefly the criteria and techniques used for the repairing and strengthening of reinforced concrete buildings damaged in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquakes. It...
Emergency Regulations and the New Building Code
The 1942 Federal District Building Code was crude and overoptimistic. The 1957 earthquake prompted the drafting of emergency regulations, modern and more realistic. They evolved into the...
Thoughts on a Different Approach to Seismic Design Codes
The aim of this paper is to show that some of the principles on which conventional structural design is based are not directly applicable to seismic design. Seismic design, and the corresponding...
Stopping Seepage
The Navajo Dam in New Mexico has major seepage problems. The Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the Dam, conducted studies, verified by outside consultants, concluding that the combination...
Transmission Structure Foundation Loads and Performance
Transmission line structures are subjected to unique loading conditions which for the majority of structures results in maximum loads which occur infrequently and act for only short periods...
Emergency Response
A spill normally has five phases; namely, the initial emergency response, the site assessment, the development of a remedial action plan, the implementation of the remedial action plan,...
Chasing Birds from Oil Spills?Two Experiments
Two Canadian studies that addressed different aspects of this problem were conducted in the late 1970's. One was funded by Canadian Marine Drilling Ltd. (Canmar), who was...
The Formulation of a Comprehensive Program to Protect Marine Wildlife Resources During an Oil Spill: A Case Study in Problem Solving Through Private and Public Sector Cooperation
This paper describes a unique experiment in private and public sector cooperation which led to the formulation of a comprehensive program designed to maximize the protection accorded Southern...
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