Dynamic Loads

7. Seismic Design
Lesson Objectives:

1) Describe code based seismic design in accordance with ASCE 7-16 and IBC 2012.
2) Compute “mapped” and design spectral accelerations.
3) Categorize and identify the seismic design category and importance factors for building
structures.
4) Qualitatively describe the equivalent lateral force method and identify when it is
appropriate to use as well as its limitations.
5) Compute the seismic coefficient and design base shear values.
6) Quantitatively construct a site-specific response spectrum.
7) Compute and apply the vertical distribution of seismic forces.

Background Reading:

1) Read ___________________________________________________________________.

Introduction:

1) Within seismic design, the seismic load demand on a structure can be calculated via two
simplistic methods.
a. _________________________________________________________________
b. _________________________________________________________________
2) For structures which have regular configurations, uniform mass, and stiffness and strength
distributions, the equivalent lateral force (ELF) method is most commonly used.
a. The focus of second half of these notes is the ELF method.
3) However, sometimes linear or nonlinear dynamic time history analysis is performed to
verify a particular design.
a. Typically done for _______ buildings, _______________ structures, and when a
________________________ is required.

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Modal Analysis with the Fundamental Mode Only:

1) The basis for the equivalent lateral force method common in most building codes
(including ASCE 7-16) is on both modal analysis and response spectrum analysis concepts.
2) As previously expressed, the maximum base shear contributed for a particular mode n of a
structure subjected to a horizontal base excitation can be written as:

3) Sketch:

4) In this above equation:

5) In the equation _______ is based on the effective ______________________. Therefore

one can define the effective ____________________________ as:

6) Recall the relationship between the ___________________________________________:

7) Substitution of these two relations into the first equation, one can write an expression for
the maximum base shear for the nth mode as:

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8) Therefore the maximum restoring force due to the nth mode, ______________, developed
within the structure can be written as:

9) Which can be rewritten as:

10) Using this equation above, the lateral __________________ acting on each story (level i)
can be expressed in terms of the story weight as:

11) Therefore it the response of a structure is dominated by its fundamental mode, one can
estimate the maximum base shear and restoring forces induced by an earthquake as:

12) Let’s revisit this when the seismic values are ready to be distributed to each floor.

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Code Based Seismic Design Loads

1) Now let’s focus on how to obtain design loads as prescribed by ASCE 7-16 and IBC 2012.
2) Note a new revision within the live loads and seismic hazard maps are incorporated into
the revised version, ASCE 7-16.
a. New to the ASCE 7-16 cycle is a new chapter on tsunami design.

Analysis Procedure – Determination of Design Accelerations:

1) The first step in the determination of the design acceleration is to determine the mapped
maximum considered earthquake (MCE) spectral response values.
a. MCE has a return period of ______________________________.
b. This is considered a “rare event”.
c. This equates to a ______ probability of exceedance in ______ years.
2) Two “mapped” spectral values are determined, namely ___________________________.
a. _________________ considered to the short period acceleration at ____________.
b. _________________ considered to the long period acceleration at ____________.
3) These values can be obtained via IBC 2012 Figures 1613.1(1) through 1613.3.1(6), where
a few examples are illustrated below in Figures 1-4.
4) An alternative approach to determine the mapped and design accelerations is to use the
online USGS tools. Screenshots and links are available in Figures 5 and 6.
a. Note this is a very powerful tool and can also minimally compute a design
spectrum.
5) When determining the spectral accelerations, Seismic Design Category A may be permitted
as an assignment if ________________________________________________________.
a. This is considered as a building located in a region with a very low probability of
experiencing damaging earthquake effects.

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Figure 1. Mapped maximum considered earthquake MCE spectral response acceleration at short
periods for the US mainland (part one).

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Figure 2. Mapped maximum considered earthquake MCE spectral response acceleration at short
periods for the US mainland (part two).

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Figure 3. Mapped maximum considered earthquake MCE spectral response acceleration at long
periods for the US mainland (part one).

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Figure 4. Mapped maximum considered earthquake MCE spectral response acceleration at long
periods for the US mainland (part two).

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Figure 5. Online seismic design maps for US and its territories. Available at:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/designmaps/beta/us/

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Figure 6. Example seismic design values for Italy. Other mapping tools are available for other
countries. Available at: http://esse1-gis.mi.ingv.it/s1_en.php

6) After the mapped accelerations are determined, the ____________________ must be

specified. The site class is based on the local soil conditions (commonly as __________)
and can be classified as A-F in accordance with ASCE 7-16 Chapter 20. See Table 1.
7) A breakdown of the site classes include:
a. ______________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________
c. ______________________________________________________
d. ______________________________________________________
e. ______________________________________________________
f. ______________________________________________________
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8) If the soil conditions are not known, a designer may use site _______________ (as default)
unless the building officials or geotechnical data determines site class E or F is present.
9) Using the mapped accelerations and site classification, the maximum considered
earthquake spectral response accelerations can be adjusted for the site class effects at the
short period (________) and long period (________).

10) Note the above values correspond to a hazard represented as ________________________

_______________________________________________________________________.
11) To determine the 5% damped of critical design spectral response accelerations, denoted
as _______________________ at short and long periods, respectively; the following
equations from IBC 1613.3.4 can be utilized (using Tables 2 and 3):

12) The design earthquake event considers an approximate return period of _______________
and corresponds to a _________ probability of exceedance in _________ years.

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Table 1. Site classification table obtained from ASCE 7-16.

Table 2. Short period site coefficient table obtained from IBC 2012.

Table 3. Long period site coefficient table obtained from IBC 2012.

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Analysis Procedure –Seismic Design Category and Importance Factor:

1) The risk associated with each use of buildings and other structures is not constant.
a. For example: one-story residential house versus a nuclear power facility.
b. Various risk categories are defined in IBC Table 1604.5 and
c. These can be found in ASCE 7-16 Table 1604.5 or similarly in FEMA P-749
Chapter 5 Table 3.
d. Refer to Tables 4 and 5.
2) To account for the associated risks, Importance factors, _____, are introduced and can be
found in ASCE 7-16 Table 1.5-2. Refer to Table 6.
3) Seismic design categories (__________) can be assigned and determined as a function of
the “mapped” spectral accelerations and the risk category.
4) Definitions of seismic design categories is shown in Table 7. These definitions are obtained
from FEMA P-749, but are very close to the brief descriptions in ASCE/IBC procedures.
5) The seismic design category will govern which analytical procedures are appropriate.

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Table 4. Risk classification of representative buildings obtained from ASCE 7-16.

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Table 5. Occupancy classifications for representative buildings obtained from FEMA P-749.

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Table 6. Importance factors obtained from ASCE 7-16.

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Table 7. Seismic design category obtained from FEMA P-749.

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Table 8. Seismic design category based on the short period response accelerations.

Table 9. Seismic design category based on the long period response accelerations.

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Analysis Procedure –Computation of Seismic Base Shear:

1) As mentioned in the previous section, the seismic design category will control on which
analytical methods are appropriate.
2) Illustrated in ASCE Table 12.6-1 (Table 10).
3) Specified vertical and horizontal irregularities within this table can be found in ASCE
Tables 12.3-1 and 12.3-2 (Tables 11 and 12).
4) One of the common methods (equivalent lateral force) will be detailed in the next section.

Table 10. Appropriate analytical procedure by seismic design category and structural
characteristics. (Obtained from ASCE 7-16).

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Table 11. Horizontal irregularities obtained from ASCE 7-16.

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Table 12. Vertical irregularities obtained from ASCE 7-16.

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Analysis Procedure – Equivalent Lateral Force Analysis:

1) In IBC and ASCE design guidelines, an equivalent lateral force procedure can be utilized
in design in lieu of dynamic analysis.
2) As outlined previously in these notes, this is based on the response spectrum concept.
3) The general equation for seismic base shear in a given direction can be expressed as:

4) This equation is similar to that under point 11 of Modal Analysis with the Fundamental
Mode only.
a. This represents the pseudo-acceleration response spectrum for 5% damped, as
shown in Figure 7.

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Figure 7. Design response spectra obtained from ASCE 7016.

5) The weight in this equation, W, is the effective seismic weight.

a. Instead of having the effective modal weight for the fundamental mode, as done in
modal analysis, the total weight of the structure is used.
b. Why?
c. This is meant to compensate for the _______________________ignored in the
equation in a “conservative way”.
d. Is this always effective? ______________________________________________
6) In the calculation of the seismic weight, this should include the dead load above the base
and other loads above the base as appropriate.
a. This includes stipulates that for areas used for storage, a minimum of 25% of the
floor live load shall be included.
i. This is not needed if the inclusion of storage loads add no more than 5% to
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the effective seismic weight at the level.

b. Floor live loads in public garages and open parking structures does not need to be
included.
7) Where partitions are required in the floor load design, the actual weight of the partitions or
a minimum weight as specified in the code is needed, whichever is greater.
8) This also includes the operating weight of any permanently installed equipment.
9) The above equation for the seismic response coefficient, it should be less than the following
cases:

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10) In the above equations, a response modification coefficient, R, is to account for the
______________________ of a structure.
a. As described in earlier sections of notes, a more ductile structure has a higher value
of R.
b. However it is not exactly equal to the ductility capacity, but it also takes into
consideration of the expected overstrength in a structure.
c. The values of R for different types of structures are provided in ASCE 7-16 Table
12.14-1 (shown here as Table 13).
d. Historically these values were set on empirical evidence and experience.
e. However these values can be determined for systems and new structural systems
using the systematic approach within FEMA P695. This approach has a target
probability of collapse of a structure under a maximum considered earthquake
(MCE) is not greater than 10%. This procedure requires extensive nonlinear time
history analysis to compute these coefficients.
11) Another variable specified in the equations above is the fundamental period of a structure,
T.
12) A period value is required to compute the base shear and the distributed lateral forces (to
be described shortly). These values can be obtained using a structural model or through an
approximate equation.
13) One equation for an approximate value of the period is given below:

14) These constants can be obtained determined from Table 12.8-2 in ASCE 7-16 or shown
here in Table 14.

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15) Note that the calculated approximate fundamental period in the above equations cannot
exceed the product of the coefficient (Cu) in Table 12.8-1 of ASCE 7-16 times the
approximate fundamental period, Ta.
16) As a general rule of thumb for the anticipated ________________________, for a moment
resisting frame that that does not exceed twelve stories with a minimum story height of 9
feet, an approximate period can be estimated as:

17) Where in the equation above, N is the number of stories above the base.
a. This is a similar quantity provided in Structural Dynamics and in discussions.
b. Note concrete and steel buildings are expected to behave differently!

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Table 13. Response modification coefficients obtained from ASCE 7-16.

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Table 14. Approximate structural periods (fundamental mode) obtained from ASCE 7-16.

Table 15. Coefficient for the upper limit on the calculated period obtained from ASCE 7-16.

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Equivalent Lateral Force Analysis: - Vertical Distribution of Seismic Force:

1) Once the design base shear, V, has been determine, the vertical distribution of later forces
can be given by the following equations:

2) Parameter of ________ is the height from the base to level i.

3) Parameter of ________ is equal to unity (“1”) for T = 0.5 seconds or less, is equal to 2 for
T = 2.0 seconds or more; else between 0.5 and 2.5 seconds is taken as 2 or determined by
linear interpolation.
4) In the above equation is once again related to the modal analysis. Refer to point 11 of
Modal Analysis with the Fundamental Mode only within this section of notes.
5) The ______ denotes the mode shape.
a. The exponent _____ is used to account for the higher-mode effects.
b. In general, the higher mode effects are more ________________________ for a
structure with a longer fundamental period.
c. For structures with a ___________________fundamental period, it is implied that
the higher-mode effects are not important since k = 1 and the corresponding mode
shape is _____________________.

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References:

Applied Technology Council. (2009). FEMA P695 / Quantification of Building Seismic

Performance Factors. Redwood City, CA, June.
ASCE/SEI (2017). ASCE 7-16: Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures.
American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA.
ASCE/SEI (2010). ASCE 7-10: Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures.
American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA.
FEMA (2010). FEMA P-749 / Earthquake-Resistant Design Concepts. An Introduction to the
NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures.
National Institute of Building Sciences. Washington, DC.
International Code Council, ICC. (2012). International building code 2012. International Code
Council, Country Club Hills, IL.

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