INTRODUCTION

. . . the shoe that ts one person pinches another. Carl Gustav Jung

This book is primarily about design, which, as I use the term, is the creative process that seeks the proper blend of essential ingredientsspecically function, aesthetics, economy, and, in the context of this book, seismic behavior. There exists no single formula for creating a good design, for the design process involves making a set of decisions on issues for which no absolutely right answer exists. Thus the designer is continually seeking a comfortable rationally based design solution, and two identical solutions are not likely to be produced even successively by the same constructive designer. Tools are essential to the completion of almost every task. I have tried to assemble, in as concise a form as possible, the tools necessary to the pursuit of a good design. From the extensive library of experimental efforts, I have selected representative works and demonstrated how both strength and deformation limit states might be predicted. Next, I review alternative design approaches and, in the process, simplify and adapt them to specic types of bracing systems. Finally I describe how designs might be comprehensively reviewed. The focus of the book is concrete and the emphasis is on precast concrete. I have limited the scope to the satisfaction of seismic behavior objectives because the topic is complex and, though extensively studied and codied, not necessarily well understood by the structural design profession. The fact that seismic design can be reduced to an understandable level that can be creatively introduced into a building program makes it an ideal vehicle to study the design process. Concrete as a composite material provides a medium that encourages freedom. The design of structures constructed using composite materials is not peculiar to the materials selected for any combination of dissimilar materials must satisfy the same basic fundamental laws and this is because equilibrium, compatibility, and adherence to the appropriate stress-strain relationship must always be attained. Accordingly, the choice of concrete as a vehicle should not be viewed as a constraint on the applicability of the material contained herein.
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Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons Retrieved from: www.knovel.com

INTRODUCTION

Precast concrete is but one creative extension of the use of concrete. It is an especially important extension because the prefabrication of structures can and will be required to meet the needs of society. The use of precast concrete has traditionally been viewed with skepticism in regions considered to have a potential for seismic activity. This is largely the result of a lack of understanding of the basic nature of seismic behavior and how the attributes of precast concrete can be exploited to improve behavior. The designer of a precast concrete structure, armed with the proper tools, can create a structure that will not only survive an earthquake, but do so with very little, if any, damage. To accomplish this lofty objective requires only that the designer take advantage of the jointed nature of the assemblage of precast elements. To present the seismic design of precast concrete as a stand-alone topic would limit the usefulness of the treatment because a consistent base is critical to both explaining and understanding the behavior of precast concrete members and systems. Accordingly, the basic elements of both seismic behavior and the behavior and design of concrete must precede any treatment of precast concrete. The precast concrete seismic systems whose design is described in some detail herein are only intended to be examples of what can be accomplished with creative thinking. The objective then is to inspire creative applications of a versatile product. The design process must be free and dynamic to be effective. Accordingly, a design must move aggressively to make the many decisions required in an orderly fashion with a minimum amount of distraction. The process usually starts by tackling the most difcult decision(s) rst and, when necessary, looking quickly downstream in the decision-making process to conrm that potential problems do, in fact, have a solution. I endeavor to place emphasis on the primary objectives of the design process and relieve, or at least loosen wherever possible, the ever-increasing number of prescriptive constraints being imposed on designs. This is especially important because the concept development (creative) part of a design must focus on the broader objectives and leave the details to the development of the concept. The importance of detail is not discounted by this apparent deferral, for the completed design package must be very clear on how the broader objectives are accomplished. It is this almost subliminal awareness of detail that will allow the focus essential to the creation of an excellent design. Creative design clearly does not allow regimentation, and this makes it almost impossible to present design as a subject. My effort toward regimentation is limited to subdividing the presented material into four broad categories, but even this is not adhered to strictly. Chapter 1 discusses selected basic concepts. The objective is to provide the designer with the basic insight necessary to the effective development of a design. A comprehensive treatment of each topic would, in most cases, take volumes and tend to obscure the basic concepts and objectives. I have tried to identify references for the reader who is not satised with the brevity of treatment contained herein. Fortunately and unfortunately, the expanded treatment of many of the basic concepts presented herein has reached a level of development far beyond the technical capability of most of us. The fortunate aspect is that most of the theory is nding its way into computer applications that, if properly applied and understood, should
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons Retrieved from: www.knovel.com

INTRODUCTION

help the designer make difcult decisions. The unfortunate aspect is that most of the material has been presented, at least to date, in a way that does not allow the rapid assimilation of concepts by the reader whose primary preoccupation is in an ancillary area. Perhaps a treatment along the lines of Shakespeare for Dummies would nd a larger audience. I considered including several additional topics in Chapter 1, but elected instead to scatter them throughout the book. They are covered in the discussions of the design processes where they may effectively be used. To compensate for the resulting scatter, I have tried to use the index as an effective locator. The most important of these topics relates to understanding statics and indeterminate structures and how this understanding might quickly and reliably be reduced to design methodologies. It seems as though each passing year and each new software package causes us to become less facile in reducing complex structures to a level that allows us to make the appropriate design decisions. Design by iteration is becoming increasingly popular, but it will never be effective as a tool to create the desired balanced design. A learned mathematician once assured me that enough monkeys armed with typewriters would ultimately produce all of the works of Shakespeare. The problem from the structural design perspective is that we are given neither the time nor the money to follow this path. The question usually proposed to the designer is Can I do this? and the time frame allowed for coming up with an answer is measured in days. Such a time frame does not allow for extensive research or for time-consuming analytical procedures. The analytical reductions used in various example designs not only allow design insight and a quick means of evaluating the efcacy of a concept, but also a quick check of computer solutions. Chapter 2 deals with the behavior and design of components of bracing programs. The approach to component design in Chapter 2 starts by reviewing selected experimental efforts and attempting to use the results of the experimental effort to support or propose design procedures for the component. One need only look at the tables of contents of the many technical journals to appreciate how much experimentation is being documented annually in universities around the world. Accordingly, it is impossible to reduce all available experimental data to a digestible form; thus I have been very selective. Components can also be systems as, for example, in the case of shear walls. I have tried to draw the following distinction in the adopted approach. If a body of experimental work treats the subject, I have included the subject in Chapter 2. In the case of shear walls, Chapter 2 explores the experimental evidence and how these data might be effectively used to create a design approach. The element is then reintroduced as a part of a system in Chapter 3, expanding on the previously developed design procedures. The seismic performance of a component is not exclusively concerned with its strength, for we know that seismically induced displacement demands will force members to deform well beyond their elastic limit states. The success with which a component responds to these postyield deformation demands can only be evaluated by understanding strain limit states and the damage that is likely to occur as a function of large ductility demands. Critical strains are those that dene the inception
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons Retrieved from: www.knovel.com

INTRODUCTION

of damageshell spalling and strength degradation. The experimental efforts used to identify probable strain states is of necessity limited, and the reader is encouraged to continually review new or other pertinent experimental efforts in order to establish what he or she believes to be the appropriate limit state. Perhaps focused research will be undertaken to establish and conrm some of the more speculative limit states. Having proposed a set of strength- and strain-based limit states, Chapter 2 next develops a design methodology for each component, and shows how limit states can be tested by example. Detailing considerations are discussed and details developed. Where appropriate, codication concepts are discussed and reduced to a level of analytical simplicity appropriate for design. Occasionally, the limited applicability of commonly held dogma is reviewed, as are procedures or behavior characteristics not commonly used by U.S. designers. The goals of this chapter are to reduce component design to as simple a process as possible and to provide insight into objectives often well disguised in the codication process. Chapter 3 is the heart of the book. The focus of Chapter 3 is the design of bracing systems. The objective is to conceptually create a bracing program that is effective from both a cost and a behavior perspective. Building behavior must be controlled in the design process. The building must behave as you, the designer, intend it to, and only you can make this happen. I, as a grandfather, explain to my students that the behavior of a building is probably the only thing in your life that you have a chance of controlling. One of the lessons I learned early in my career was that a design or a design concept must be less expensive and better than its alternative if it is to be accepted or adopted, and that the better part was a distant second consideration. Thus it is incumbent on the designer to create a cost-effective design in order for it to be realized and to almost subliminally include the better aspect into every design. The appropriateness of a well-conceived design may defy codied dogma, and this will require courage on the part of the designer. An ethical issue is clearly raised, one that must be resolved by the responsible designer after careful study and consultation with peers. Chapter 3 also presents a variety of design approaches. These include classical strength procedures as well as displacement-based approaches. I have advocated and used displacement-based procedures for more than thirty years, and I am convinced that they offer by far the best chance for producing a successful design. I support the development and acceptance of a performance-based approach wholeheartedly. Procedures currently proposed are not, in my opinion, easily applied to the conceptual design process. Further, they do not take advantage of a designers understanding of the behavior characteristics inherent to structural systems. I, therefore, propose simpler procedures that include the basic philosophies of each displacement-based approach, specically those that follow the equal-displacement tenet and those that treat structural damping as a system-dependent variable. When I rst explored displacementbased procedures, design earthquakes were nowhere near as strong as they now are and, as a consequence, strain limit states that I established after analyzing experimental effort never were approached. Now with design earthquake intensities ve or so
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons Retrieved from: www.knovel.com

INTRODUCTION

times greater, these limit states are being approached, but who knows how strong the next decades earthquakes might be? Therefore, I treat ductility much as a rich person treats moneythere simply is no such thing as too much. The precision suggested by most design procedures is illusory. Response modication factors now identify more than fty categories with variations of 1.2% between vastly different types of structural systems. This suggests a solid technical basis that does not exist. When I work in three signicant gures in examples, it is not because I believe it to be analytically appropriate to do so, but rather only to allow the reader a better chance to track the example. Typically, when I prepare a design, I work to two signicant gures and try to constantly review or crosscheck my conclusions to make sure I get into the ballpark; once Im in the ballpark, it is easy enough in the analysis phase to nd the right seat. Finding the ballpark is an essential part of the conceptual design process. As a designer you will soon learn that once a program is set it cannot be changed and the only real option is to mitigate mistakes in concept. On the other hand, if the rst step is in the right direction and allows the latitude to properly consider potential contingencies, the design will ow smoothly. Early on I found that if I located my bracing systems in areas that would otherwise not be used, they could maintain their integrity. Whenever bracing systems can come into conict with other building systems, rest assured a conict will eventually occur. For years I have held the belief that mechanical/plumbing engineers, in spite of whatever lip service they may give during the conceptual design phase, do not start their designs in earnest until the concrete structure has progressed far enough to make it necessary to core or cut into it. So make sure your design, if it can be in harms way, has some breathing room. Chapter 4 introduces the reader to the elastic and inelastic time history procedures used to conrm or evaluate the efcacy of a design. The objective is not to support any particular design approach, but rather to better understand the messages time history analyses can convey. Presumably the designer will know the nal answer before this type of analysis is undertaken, for it will be very painful if a major change has to be made at this stage. If the design procedures and checks presented in Chapter 3 are followed, it is unlikely that a signicant change will be required. So why bother with a conrmation of the design? A retrospective review of any decisionmaking process extends the all-important experience base. It should, at the very least, add condence to future designs or provide the courage necessary to take on more challenging designs. The architecture of structural expressionism is a thing of the past. The free form of todays architectural styles requires boldness on the part of the structural engineer, and this must be supported by knowledge, experience, and condence. Chapter 4 also explores the sensitivity of designs to parameters like strength and hysteretic damping. If parametric studies are used extensively in the retrospective review process, they should allow the designer to more effectively control the behavior of buildings in subsequent designs. Sufcient strength, for example, has traditionally been viewed as the key to a successful design. Some professional societies believe that buildings should be designed so as to respond almost exclusively in the elastic range. The parametric studies included herein, and those performed by others, suggest
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons Retrieved from: www.knovel.com

INTRODUCTION

that the benets associated with an increase in strength are small. This is certainly not intended to discount strength as an important design consideration, but rather to point out that associated negative impacts can be greater than the potential reductions in displacement. Remember, the strength of the yielding element will impose more demand on the brittle components along the lateral load path. Increases in system strength will also increase accelerations, and this too will tend to cause more damage to building contents. The fullness of a hysteresis loop has always been considered a positive attribute. How full must it be to produce the desired control over building response? Parametric studies suggest that, like strength, there is only a vague link, provided that reasonable levels of both strength and energy dissipation are provided. It is possible that carefully designed shaking table tests will shed more light on these issues. Until such time, designers will have to use available tools and their intuition to produce the best possible building. I am convinced that, given todays knowledge base, successful designs can reliably be produced. My hope is that the material contained in this book will make it possible for both the student and practitioner to effectively utilize the vast amount of material that has been developed over the past quarter century to develop designs with which they can be comfortable, designs that will serve society well.

Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons

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