About the NCS Reston Branch

The National Capital Section's Reston Branch hosts regular monthly technical meetings at ASCE Headquarters in Reston at lunch time. Formerly a Committee of the Section, it was, in late October 2017,  anointed a Branch in recognition of its successful track record of serving members from the Reston area with well-attended PDH and networking opportunities. Several Branch Officer positions have opened up for our member volunteers to fill. Take advantage of these emerging leadership opportunities!

Second Generation Tools for Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering

First-generation tools for performance-based earthquake engineering were developed and published in the mid 1990s as FEMA 273/274. Those documents presented tools and techniques for nonlinear static analysis, and proposed component-based, analysis-oriented acceptance criteria presented in terms of deterministic, albeit qualitative, performance levels. Subsequently, FEMA 273/274 were republished as ASCE/SEI Standard 41-06 and 41-13. In parallel with these ASCE publications, FEMA funded work on second-generation tools for performance-based earthquake engineering that embraced nonlinear dynamic analysis and descriptions of seismic performance that better mapped to metrics of importance to regulators and building owners, namely, repair cost, the cost of business interruption, and casualties. The presentation will summarize the first generation tools and describe key advancements in the second-generation tools, as documented in FEMA P-58. Calculation procedures for annualized risk, including the use of fragility functions, consequence functions, and advanced Monte Carlo analysis will be described.

Date: Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Time: 11:45 AM Registration - 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM, Lunch/Speaker
Place: ASCE Headquarters, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive Reston, VA 20191
Cost: $25 per person (member/nonmember)
Attendees will receive 1 PDH
RSVP: Please RSVP by Thursday, April 20th, to Lisa Anderson:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 703-429- 6631.
Cash or check made out to “ASCE National Capital Section” may be paid at the door.

Andrew Whittaker is Professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo, and serves as the Director of MCEER. He is a registered civil and structural engineer in the State of California. Dr. Whittaker served as the Vice-President and President of the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (www.curee.org) from 2003 to 2011, and on the Board of Directors of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (www.eeri.org) and the World Seismic Safety Initiative from 2008 to 2010. Currently, he is a member of the Advisory Board for the Southern California Earthquake Center. Dr. Whittaker made significant contributions to the first generation of tools for performance based earthquake engineering (FEMA 273/274, 1992-1997) and led the structural engineering team that developed the second generation of these tools (FEMA P58, 2000-2013). Whittaker serves on a number of national committees including ASCE 4, ASCE 7, and ASCE 43, and ACI 349. He is Chair of the ASCE Nuclear Standards Committee. His research interests are broad and include earthquake and blast engineering of buildings, long-span bridges and nuclear structures. The US National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, US Federal Highway Administration, and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission fund his research. He consults to federal agencies, regulators, consultancies, contractors, and utilities in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.

Welcome to the Reston Branch

We're always on the lookout for volunteers to help in the planning of technical meetings in Reston. The Branch hosts technical meetings monthly for ASCE members in the Reston area, including surrounding counties, looking to network with other professionals, sharpen their technical and professional skills, and earn Professional Development Hours. For more information, contact the Branch Chair, Lisa Anderson, at lmanders@bechtel.com or 703-429-6631.

Relevant Articles