Controlling the Seismic Behavior of Precast Concrete
Precast concrete has, through the years the years, acquired a bad reputation insofar as its ability to withstand earthquake is concerned. This reputation, though reasonably based, is not...
Study of Failures of Towers and Tall Buildings Under Wind Loading
In this paper, two kinds of wind-excited limit states on a tall structure are investigated and corresponding formulae for the limit wind pressures are presented. In solving the wind-excited...
Earthquake Resistant Design and Construction of Reinforced Concrete Buildings. The Practice in Mexico After 1985
The evolution of the design and construction practice of reinforced concrete buildings in Mexico is presented in terms of materials, structural systems, member design and reinforcement...
Damage Assessment for Reinforced Concrete Buildings with Shear Walls
This paper tries to establish the analytical method of damage assessment for R.C. buildings with shear walls before or after earthquake. Incremental nonlinear spectrum analysis, using...
CenterCore Strengthening System for Seismic Hazard Reduction of Unreinforced Masonry Bearing Wall Buildings
The CenterCore technique of reinforcing unreinforced masonry walls was developed with the help of a National Science Foundation grant in 1984. The CenterCore strengthening system consists...
Connectors for Earthquake Resistant Structures
Damage assessments from the past several earthquakes located on the northern, central and southern zones of the San Andreas Fault - Cape Mendocino: April 1992, 7.1; Loma Prieta: October...
Fire Retardant Treated Wood
The paper explains how FRTW chemicals react with combustible gases. It describes the two types into which FRTW is divided. Misconceptions about FRTW are also addressed....
Investigation of a Failed Concrete Joist System
The failure and distress of concrete joists contained in the promenade roof deck of a one-story, college, lecture hall building initiated an extensive investigation to determine the cause...
The Engineer's Role in Reducing Curtainwall Failures
For a variety of reasons, engineers have abdicated responsibility for curtainwall design. Failures of curtainwall components are very common, leading to expensive repairs and even complete...
The Effective Use of Fire Ratings
Any consideration of components for construction must take into account the performance of those components when they are exposed to fire. Codes, standards, and fire ratings provide some...
Current Forensic Courses in Civil Engineering
The ASCE is taking a leadership role in the prevention of failures of engineered facilities. The Technical Council on Forensic Engineering Education Committee recently completed a survey...
Things That Fall?Lessons from Some Construction Accidents and Structural Failures
The causes and results of several construction accidents are reviewed. The lessons to be learned from such a summary are that all too often the simplest oversight leads to catastrophic...
Vortex Shedding Induced Fatigue Fracture of Mast Tower
The fracture of a pair of 60m high circular steel masts is investigated. The design criteria and fabrication practices are reviewed. The cause of failure is related to the fatigued condition...
Dynamic In-Plane Racking Tests of Curtain Wall Glass Components
This paper is concerned with the seismic performance of 'architectural.' or 'non-structural' building elements such as glass elements in curtain wall systems. A pilot study was undertaken...
Recent Developments in Seismic Isolation Technology
Large experimental research projects for isolators for both civil structures and nuclear reactor applications have been conducted at the Earthquake Engineering Research Center (EERC) over...
Mitigation of Wind-Created Risks During Construction
Wind damage to structures during construction has been found to be significant and often catastrophic. Structural failures are often the result of wind loads that are far less than the...
Axial Capacity of Concrete Infilled Steel Box Column with Biaxial Bending
The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using the Bresler reciprocal load method to calculate the axial capacity of a concrete infilled steel box column subjected...
Testing of Concrete Permeability for Durability Evaluation
Field and laboratory permeability tests are being performed to evaluate the durability of concrete in Florida. These tests are part of an extensive research program to develop a durability...
Nondestructive Evaluation of Timber
Nondestructive evaluation of materials, the science of identifying the physical and mechanical properties of materials without altering their end-use capabilities, is valuable in defining...
Interactive Buckling Analysis of Stiffened Shells Using Pregnant Sheel Elements
Two distinctive modes of failure dominate the failure of stiffened plates and shells, viz. the short-wave local mode and the long-wave overall mode. A new finite element technique which...
Return to search