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The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) has updated its Tall Building Initiative Guidelines for Performance-based Seismic Design of Tall Buildings. The second edition of the 2010 publication incorporates more current knowledge and best practices, relying on experiences gleaned from using the first edition.
“I believe that this second edition represents a significant step forward in the performance-based seismic design of tall buildings,” said James O. Malley, SE, senior principal with Degenkolb Engineers. “Lessons learned from project applications and major advances in our analytical and ground motion estimation capabilities over the last decade have been incorporated. When combined with American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 7-16, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures, and standards such as American Institute of Steel Construction’s (AISC’s) Specification and Seismic Provisions, we hope the updated version will be an important resource for engineers designing tall and other unique structures.”
AISC, Charles Pankow Foundation, ASCE’s Structural Engineering Institute, Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Foundation sponsored the update. It is written to cover a broader variety of strategies than its predecessor, which focused primarily on core wall-reinforced concrete systems, irregular structures, and building complexes with multiple towers on a single podium.
“Typically, the tall buildings using these guidelines take exception to one or more code requirements and, as such, use them to justify the building’s performance as being equivalent to a code-prescriptive design,” said John Hooper, SE, senior principal with Magnusson Klemencic Associates. “Numerous updates were made to this new version, including compatibility with ASCE 7-16 and its newly rewritten Chapter 16: Nonlinear Response History Analysis, with AISC’s load and resistance factor design (LRFD) approach.”
Malley and Hooper are both among the new document’s authors.
“This edition of the guide incorporates the most recent research in seismic design,” said Larry Kruth, AISC’s president of engineering. “This includes methods for using items such as steel plate shear walls for the lateral force resisting system. It’s very comprehensive.”
The second edition is available online.
