Steel connection failures during the northridge earthquake

Author(s):  
W. F. Chen
1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 659-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Egor P. Popov ◽  
Toader A. Balan ◽  
Tzong-Shuoh Yang

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake a tremendous amount of research activity was generated in the United States. In this paper on introducing the basic concepts of seismic design, and illustrating a typical pre-Northridge earthquake steel connection, the fundamental reasons of the poor behavior of the connections are discussed. Then the development of the so-called Dog Bone connection is brought in. Experimental results on two connections of this type are discussed in detail. The reasons for good behavior of Dog Bone connections are then explained using three-dimensional von Mises yield criterion. This new analytical demonstration provides solid evidence as to why the Dog Bone connections behave well. The problem of torsional instability of these connections is not considered.


Nature ◽  
10.1038/37586 ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 390 (6660) ◽  
pp. 599-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward H. Field ◽  
Paul A. Johnson ◽  
Igor A. Beresnev ◽  
Yuehua Zeng

Author(s):  
Luigi Lombardo ◽  
Hakan Tanyas

AbstractGround motion scenarios exists for most of the seismically active areas around the globe. They essentially correspond to shaking level maps at given earthquake return times which are used as reference for the likely areas under threat from future ground displacements. Being landslides in seismically actively regions closely controlled by the ground motion, one would expect that landslide susceptibility maps should change as the ground motion patterns change in space and time. However, so far, statistically-based landslide susceptibility assessments have primarily been used as time-invariant.In other words, the vast majority of the statistical models does not include the temporal effect of the main trigger in future landslide scenarios. In this work, we present an approach aimed at filling this gap, bridging current practices in the seismological community to those in the geomorphological and statistical ones. More specifically, we select an earthquake-induced landslide inventory corresponding to the 1994 Northridge earthquake and build a Bayesian Generalized Additive Model of the binomial family, featuring common morphometric and thematic covariates as well as the Peak Ground Acceleration generated by the Northridge earthquake. Once each model component has been estimated, we have run 1000 simulations for each of the 217 possible ground motion scenarios for the study area. From each batch of 1000 simulations, we have estimated the mean and 95% Credible Interval to represent the mean susceptibility pattern under a specific earthquake scenario, together with its uncertainty level. Because each earthquake scenario has a specific return time, our simulations allow to incorporate the temporal dimension into any susceptibility model, therefore driving the results toward the definition of landslide hazard. Ultimately, we also share our results in vector format – a .mif file that can be easily converted into a common shapefile –. There, we report the mean (and uncertainty) susceptibility of each 1000 simulation batch for each of the 217 scenarios.


Author(s):  
Salam Al-Sabah ◽  
Debra Laefer ◽  
Linh Truong-Hong

<p>Three-dimensional intermeshing of steel enabled by advanced digital manufacturing holds the potential to radically change how steel bridges and buildings are connected. This paper presents the concept of the first universal structural steel connection in over 100 years. The proposed Intermeshed Steel Connection (ISC) exploits recent advances in steel cutting technologies and robotics to shape member ends precisely. This vastly reduces on-site bolting and welding. Forces are transferred through common bearing surfaces at multiple contact points. The new connection is designed to accelerate structural steel deployment and offer better disassembly options. This paper introduces the geometry, manufacturing, and initial analysis of the connection approach, which holds the potential to be robust, secure, scalable, and faster to erect.</p>


1996 ◽  
Vol 86 (1B) ◽  
pp. S231-S246 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. F. Shakal ◽  
M. J. Huang ◽  
R. B. Darragh

Abstract Some of the largest accelerations and velocities ever recorded at ground-response and structural sites occurred during the Northridge earthquake. These motions are greater than most existing attenuation models would have predicted. Although the motions are large, the correspondence between measured acceleration and damage requires further study, since some sites with high acceleration experienced only moderate damage. Also, some peak vertical accelerations were larger than the horizontal, but in general, they are smaller and fit the pattern observed in previous earthquakes. Strong-motion records processed to date show significant differences in acceleration and velocity waveforms and amplitudes across the San Fernando Valley. Analysis of processed data from several buildings in the San Fernando Valley indicates that short-period buildings such as shear-wall buildings experienced large forces and relatively low inter-story drift during the Northridge earthquake. However, long-period (1 to 5 sec) steel or concrete moment-frame buildings experienced large inter-story drift. For this earthquake, accelerations did not always amplify from base to roof for flexible structures like the moment-frame buildings, but the displacements were always larger at the roof. The drifts at many of the moment-frame buildings were larger than the drift limit for working stress design in the building code. The records from a base-isolated building indicate that high-frequency motion was reduced significantly by the isolators. The isolators deformed about 3.5 cm, which is much less than the design displacement. The records from a parking structure show important features of the seismic response of this class of structure.


1996 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel J. Stratton ◽  
Virginia Price Hastings ◽  
Darlene Isbell ◽  
John Celentano ◽  
Miguel Ascarrunz ◽  
...  

AbstractIntroduction:This paper describes the 1994 Northridge earthquake experience of the local emergency medical services (EMS) agency. Discussed are means that should improve future local agency disaster responses.Methods:Data reported are descriptive and were collected from multiple independent sources, and can be reviewed publicly and confirmed. Validated data collected during the disaster by the Local EMS Agency also are reported.Results:The experience of the Los Angeles County EMS Agency was similar to that of earthquake disasters previously reported. Communication systems, water, food, shelter, sanitation means, power sources, and medical supplies were resources needed early in the disaster. Urban Search and Rescue Teams and Disaster Medical Assistance Teams were important elements in the response to the Northridge earthquake. The acute phase of the disaster ended within 48 to 72 hours and public health then became the predominant health-care issue. Locating community food and water supplies near shelters, providing transportation to medical care, and public-health visits to shelter locations helped prevent the development of long-term park encampments. An incident command system for the field, hospitals, and government responders was necessary for an organized response to the disaster.Conclusion:Disaster preparedness, multiple forms of reliable communication, rapid mobilization of resources, and knowledge of available state and federal resources are necessary for a disaster response by a local EMS agency.


2018 ◽  
Vol 763 ◽  
pp. 165-173
Author(s):  
Paul Steneker ◽  
Lydell D.A. Wiebe ◽  
Andre Filiatrault

The investigations following the unacceptable performance of moment resisting frames (MRFs) in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake led to the development of a variety of alternative ductile connections. Tests have shown that these connections have reliable component-level performance, leading to them being recommended in standards worldwide as pre-qualified for MRFs. Current design practice consists of applying a single type of ductile connection, often the reduced beam section (RBS), uniformly throughout an entire frame. These connections are detailed and inspected to ensure that each connection has a similar minimum deformation capacity throughout the building, regardless of local deformation demands.This paper examines the potential design implications of identifying local areas within a MRF having the greatest joint rotational demands. Once identified, the connections at these locations are deemed critical to the global performance of the frame. First, the collapse analysis of a six-storey MRF with well-detailed RBS connections was conducted to quantify an upper bound system-level performance. Thereafter, a lower bound system-level performance was determined by considering a frame constructed using only connections with a lowered rotational capacity. Subsequent series of analyses were conducted to identify critical locations within the frame where RBS connections must have a high reliable rotational capacity to ensure adequate system-level performance.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document