Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings

Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings describes deficiency-based and systematic procedures that use performance-based principles to evaluate and retrofit existing buildings to withstand the effects of earthquakes. This next-generation standard combines the evaluation and retrofit process and puts forth a three-tiered process for seismic evaluation according to a range of building performance levels—from collapse prevention to operational—that marry targeted structural performance with the performance of nonstructural elements. The deficiency-based procedures allow the evaluation and retrofit effort to focus on specific potential deficiencies deemed, on the basis of past earthquake observations, to be of concern for a permissible set of building types and heights. The systematic procedure, applicable to any building, sets forth a methodology to evaluate the entire building in a rigorous manner.