Most seismic codes specify empirical formulas to estimate the fundamental vibration period of buildings. Evaluated first in this paper are the formulas specified in present US codes using the available data on the fundamental period of buildings “measured” from their motions recorded during eight California earthquakes, starting from the 1971 San Fernando earthquake and ending with the 1994 Nor...

Cylindrical steel tanks are important components of many industrial plants such as oil refineries and chemical plants. Usually failure of cylindrical tanks leads to serious consequences. During the past earthquakes such as 1964 Alaska and 1999 Turkey seismic performance of cylindrical tanks revealed that tanks are seismically vulnerable. Therefore, evaluation of seismic performance of these str...

Near-fault ground motions have caused very much damage in the vicinity of seismic sources during recent earthquakes. It is well known that under specific circumstances, intensive ground shakings near fault ruptures may be characterized by short-duration impulsive motions. This pulse-type motion is generally particular to the forward direction, where the fault rupture propagates towards the site...

The development of seismic vulnerability evaluation standards for reinforced concrete buildings in Japan is briefly reviewed. Damage statistics are shown to indicate that severe damage was observed in a relatively small percentage of existing buildings even after damaging earthquakes in the world. Therefore, a simple screening procedure is necessary to identify such vulnerable buildings out of ...

exceeded losses of nonstructural components from structural ones in most demolished buildings in previous earthquakes and its limitation on functionality of critical facilities and building serviceability after earthquakes should be got the point of view for accounting loss of building as a merit for building performance. this paper attempts to demonstrate the significant role of distribution p...