Monday, May 2, 2016

Seismic Retrofit

Last month I was involved in a remodel project of an old masonry constructed building. It is a very cool project and my involvement was limited to the potentially bad news part - seismic hazards and foundation bearing of the underlying soils. The solutions to the seismic and structural part are up to the structural engineer. The news we delivered regarding foundation loads and potential liquefaction made a huge difference in terms of costs. Hence, there was some anxiousness on the part of the project team. Part of the project did require steel support to upgrade the anticipated seismic/structural loads.
  

The site pictured above was not the project. I did not suggest this exterior steel support. The above retrofit project for a multi story school was apparently the most appropriate cost effective approach for the site conditions. More often seismic retrofit projects are not so visible. Perhaps a good constant educational reminder for the students at this school about geologic hazards.

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