seismic retrofit of existing buildings: a guide for practising engineers

Seismic Retrofit of Existing Buildings is a concise and easy-to-use guideline for practising engineers to assess and design successful seismic retrofit interventions for existing vulnerable buildings. It offers readers guidance on both conceptual design strategies and relevant detailed design considerations, drawings from the authors’ extensive experience in research and practice in seismic regions. Useful advice is provided on the implications of different design choices and tips for practical implementation of retrofit techniques on projects. It brings together the need-to-know information in one guide and will help you cut through the conflicting advice, academic jargon and numerous international standards to ensure that you have the right tools and knowledge in order to retrofit any building structure anywhere in the world.

This book is unique in its coverage of a range of global and local seismic retrofit solutions for a spectrum of common building construction materials including unreinforced masonry, reinforced concrete, structural steel and timber structures. Notable highlights include

• a chapter on consulting clients on seismic retrofit projects
• summaries of seismic assessment of existing structure based on international standards including Eurocode, ASCE-41, Japanese and New Zealand standards
• design advice on global and local seismic retrofit design strategies using simple displacement-based design approach
• design approaches of seismic protective technologies in seismic retrofit projects
• coverage of construction types vulnerable to earthquakes including unreinforced masonry simple and complex structures and multi-storey non-ductile concrete buildings
• thoughts on future trends and the relevance of seismic retrofit of existing buildings to the sustainability goals.

It will be an indispensable companion for engineers, construction professionals and researchers, who seek to understand the first principles behind the solutions and the challenges and solutions in practical implementation.

Matthew Fox is a Catastrophe Modeller for Guy Carpenter based in Milan.
Weng Yuen Kam is a Technical Director with Beca, a multinational engineering consultancy headquartered in New Zealand.
Damian Grant is an Associate Director in Arup’s Specialist Technology, Analytics and Research practice, and is currently Arup’s Global Seismic Skills Leader.