(National Earthquake Hazards Reduction

Program)

Recommended
Seismic Provisions:
Design Examples
FEMA P-1051/ July 2016

Prepared for the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
By the Building Seismic Safety Council of the
National Institute of Building Sciences

BUILDING SEISMIC SAFETY COUNCIL

A council of the National Institute of Building Sciences
Washington, D.C.
2016
NOTICE: Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not
necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Additionally, neither
FEMA nor any of its employees make any warranty, expressed or implied, nor assume any legal liability
or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product, or process
included in this publication.

The Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) was established in 1979 under
the auspices of the National Institute of Building Sciences as a forum-based
mechanism for dealing with the complex regulatory, technical, social, and
economic issues involved in developing and promulgating building earthquake
hazard mitigation regulatory provisions that are national in scope. By bringing
together in the BSSC all of the needed expertise and all relevant public and
private interests, it was believed that issues related to the seismic safety of the
built environment could be resolved and jurisdictional problems overcome
through authoritative guidance and assistance backed by a broad consensus.
The BSSC is an independent, voluntary membership body representing a wide
variety of building community interests. Its fundamental purpose is to enhance
public safety by providing a national forum that fosters improved seismic
safety provisions for use by the building community in the planning, design,
construction, regulation, and utilization of buildings.
This report was prepared under Contract HSFEHQ-09-D-0417 between the
Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Institute of
Building Sciences.
For further information on Building Seismic Safety Council activities and
www.bssconline.org) or contact the
Building Seismic Safety Council, National Institute of Building Sciences,
1090 Vermont, Avenue, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20005; phone
202-289-7800; fax 202-289-1092; e-mail bssc@nibs.org.
Copies of this report on CD Rom may be obtained from the FEMA Publication
Distribution Facility at 1-800-480-2520. The report can also be downloaded
in pdf form from the BSSC website at www.bssconline.org .
The National Institute of Building Sciences and its Building Seismic Safety
Council caution users of this document to be alert to patent and copyright
concerns especially when applying prescriptive requirements.

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has committed under the National Earthquake
Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) to support implementation of new knowledge and research results
for improving seismic design and building practices in the nation. One of the goals of FEMA and NEHRP
is to encourage design and building practices that address the earthquake hazard and minimize the
resulting risk of damage and injury. The 2015 edition of the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions
for New Buildings and Other Structures (FEMA P-1050) affirmed ongoing support to improve
the seismic safety of construction in this country. The NEHRP Provisions serves as a key resource for
the seismic requirements in the ASCE/SEI 7 Standard Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other
Structures as well as the national model building codes, the International Building Code (IBC),
International Residential Code (IRC) and NFPA 5000 Building Construction Safety Code. FEMA
welcomes the opportunity to provide this material and to work with these codes and standards
organizations.
FEMA P-1051 provides a series of design examples that will assist the users of the 2015 NEHRP
Provisions and the ASCE/SEI 7 standard the Provisions adopted by reference. This product has
included several new chapters to provide examples for nonlinear response history analysis procedures,
horizontal diaphragm analysis, soil structural interaction, and structures with energy dissipation devices.
The eighteen chapters not only illustrate how to apply the new methods and requirements adopted in the
2015 NEHRP Provisions for engineering design, but also cover code conforming updates for the design
examples of different structural materials and non-structural components. This product serves as an
educational and supporting resource for the 2015 NEHRP Provisions. The new changes in the 2015
NEHRP Provisions have incorporated extensive results and findings from recent research projects,
problem-focused studies, and post-earthquake investigation reports conducted by various professional
organizations, research institutes, universities, material industries and the NEHRP agencies.
FEMA wishes to express its gratitude to the authors listed in the acknowledgements for their
significant efforts in preparing this material and to the BSSC Board of Direction and staff who
made this possible. Their hard work has resulted in a resource product that will provide important
assistance to a significant number of users of the 2015 NEHRP Provisions , and the upcoming
new edition of national design standards and model building codes with incorporated changes
based-on the Provisions.

Federal Emergency Management Agency

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 Preface

Since its creation in 1979, the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) has provided a
framework for efforts to reduce the risk from earthquakes. The Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC)
is proud to have been selected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to continue to play
a role under NEHRP in improving the seismic resistance of the built environment. The BSSC is pleased to
mark the delivery to FEMA of the 2015 Design Examples, the companion document to the 2015 NEHRP
Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures.
This volume of design examples is intended for those experienced structural designers, who are relatively
new to the field of earthquake-resistant design and to the 2015 NEHRP Provisions. By extension, it also
applies to use of the current model codes and standards because the Provisions is the key resource for
updating seismic design requirements in most of those documents including ASCE 7 Standard, Minimum
Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures; and the International Building Code (IBC).
Furthermore, the 2015 NEHRP Provisions (FEMA P-1050) adopted ASCE7-10 by reference, and the
2012 International Building Code adopted ASCE7-10 by reference; therefore, seismic design
requirements are essentially equivalent across the Provisions, ASCE7 and the national model code. The
Provisions and the national model codes and standards attest to the success of FEMA and NEHRP and
BSSC efforts to ensure that the building codes and standards reflect the state-of-the art of
earthquake-resistant design.
This edition of the design examples reflects the technical changes in the 2015 NEHRP Provisions just
as the previous version, the FEMA P-751 Design Examples published in September 2012, reflected the
2009 NEHRP Provisions. Updated education/training materials to supplement this set of design examples
will be published as a separate FEMA product, 2015 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions:
Training Material, FEMA P-1052.
The BSSC is grateful to all those individuals whose assistance made the 2015 edition of the design
examples a reality:
Robert Pekelnicky, who served as project lead and managing technical editor, and James Malley,
who served as project advisor for the 2015 Design Examples.
The Design Examples chapter authors: Finley Charney, Kelly Cobeen, S.K. Ghosh, John Gillengerten,
Steven Harris, Curt Haselton, John Hooper, Dominic Kelley, Charlie Kircher, Nico Luco, James Malley,
Ian McFarlane, Robert Pekelnicky, Gregory Soules, and Andrew Taylor.
Robert Hanson, who provided a review for each chapter.
And finally, the BSSC Board is grateful to FEMA Project Officer Mai Tong for his support and guidance
and to Philip Schneider of the NIBS staff for his efforts in providing project management, assembling the
2015 volume for publication, and issuance as an e-document available for download and on CD-ROM.

Jimmy W. Sealy, FAIA

Chair, BSSC Board of Direction

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FEMA P-1051, NEHRP Recommended Provisions: Design Examples

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 Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
1.1 EVOLUTION OF EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING ................................................................... 3
1.2 HISTORY AND ROLE OF THE NEHRP PROVISIONS ............................................................. 7
1.3 THE NEHRP DESIGN EXAMPLES ............................................................................................. 9
1.4 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................. 12

2. Fundamentals
2.1 EARTHQUAKE PHENOMENA ................................................................................................. 2
2.2 STRUCTURAL RESPONSE TO GROUND SHAKING ............................................................ 4
2.2.1 Response Spectra .................................................................................................................. 4
2.2.2 Inelastic Response ............................................................................................................... 10
2.2.3 Building Materials............................................................................................................... 13
2.2.4 Building Systems ................................................................................................................ 14
2.2.5 Supplementary Elements Added to Improve Structural Performance ................................ 15
2.3 ENGINEERING PHILOSOPHY ................................................................................................ 15
2.4 STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................... 17
2.5 NONSTRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF BUILDINGS ............................................................... 18
2.6 QUALITY ASSURANCE .......................................................................................................... 19

3. Earthquake Ground Motion

3.1 BASIS OF EARTHQUAKE GROUND MOTION MAPS .......................................................... 3
3.1.1 MCE Ground Motion Intensity Maps in ASCE 7-05 and Earlier Editions ........................... 3
3.1.2 MCER Ground Motions Introduced in the 2009 Provisions and ASCE 7-10 ....................... 4
3.1.3 PGA Maps Introduced in the 2009 Provisions and ASCE 7-10 ........................................... 6
3.1.4 Long-Period Transition Period (TL) Maps Introduced in ASCE 7-05................................... 7
3.1.5 Vertical Ground Motions Introduced in the 2009 Provisions ............................................... 7
3.1.6 Updated MCER Ground Motion and PGA Maps in the 2015 Provisions and ASCE 7-16 ... 7
3.1.7 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 8
3.2 DETERMINATION OF GROUND MOTION VALUES AND SPECTRA................................ 8

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 FEMA P-1051, NEHRP Recommended Provisions: Design Examples

3.2.1 ASCE 7-10 MCER Ground Motion Values ........................................................................... 8

3.2.2 2015 Provisions and ASCE 7-16 MCER Ground Motion Values ......................................... 9
3.2.3 2015 Provisions and ASCE 7-16 Horizontal Response Spectra ......................................... 10
3.2.4 ASCE 7-16 Vertical Response Spectra ............................................................................... 11
3.2.5 ASCE 7-10 Peak Ground Accelerations ............................................................................. 12
3.2.6 2015 Provisions and ASCE 7-16 Peak Ground Accelerations ........................................... 13
3.3 SITE-SPECIFIC GROUND MOTION SPECTRA .................................................................... 13
3.3.1 Site-Specific MCER and Design Ground Motion Requirements......................................... 14
3.3.2 Site-Specific Seismic Hazard Characterization .................................................................. 15
3.3.3 Example Site-Specific MCER and Design Ground Motion Spectra.................................... 15
3.4 SELECTION AND SCALING OF GROUND MOTION RECORDS ...................................... 29
3.4.1 Nonlinear Response History Selection and Scaling ............................................................ 29
3.4.2 Linear Response History Selection and Scaling ................................................................. 38
3.4.3 With Seismic Isolation and Damping Systems Selection and Scaling................................ 40
3.5 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 46

4. Linear Response History Provision

4.1 NEW PROVISIONS FOR LINEAR DYNAMIC ANALYSIS IN FEMA P-1050 AND
ASCE 7-16 ................................................................................................................................... 3
4.1.1 Changes in the ASCE 7-16 Standard .................................................................................... 3
4.1.2 Differences between ASCE 7-16 and the 2015 NEHRP Provisions. .................................... 4
4.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .............................................................................................. 5
4.2.1 Analysis Procedures .............................................................................................................. 5
4.2.2 Modeling Systems for 3-D Response.................................................................................. 11
4.2.3 Selection and Modification of Ground Motions ................................................................. 13
4.2.4 Runtimes and Storage Requirements .................................................................................. 16
4.3 EXAMPLE APPLICATION FOR 12-STORY SPECIAL STEEL MOMENT FRAME
STRUCTURE ............................................................................................................................. 16
4.3.1 Description of Building and Lateral Load Resisting System .............................................. 17
4.3.2 Analysis and Modeling Approach....................................................................................... 21
4.3.3 Seismic Weight and Masses ................................................................................................ 24
4.3.4 Preliminary Design using the ELF Procedure ..................................................................... 26
4.3.5 Modal Properties ................................................................................................................. 30
4.3.6 Analysis Results .................................................................................................................. 36

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