As
a service to those in India, Turkey, Haiti, and
other countries who have recently
experienced earthquakes causing
extensive damage to Masonry and
Concrete buildings, these
publications published by the
United States Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
are reproduced here, or links
to other sites on which they
reside are placed here. The following is a selection of
publications that at the time this page was created, had not been electronically
published by FEMA.
To search those publications
that FEMA has to date placed on its own website, click on the two links below
LIST
OF FEMA PUBLICATIONS ON THE
SEISMIC SAFETY OF BUILDINGS,
including ordering information:
Sources of information for design
professionals and other decision
makers in earthquake hazard
mitigation. Off-site link to
FEMA website page. Click on "Preparation
and Prevention" to get to
earthquake technical documents
that FEMA has posted online.
LIST OF
NATIONAL EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS REDUCTION PROGRAM (NEHRP) PUBLICATIONS, with
links to downloadable PDF copies of many of these technical publications.
This link is to those publications designed for "Building Professionals and
Engineers," but the box on the right gives access to all other categories.
The
following items are available
directly off this website as PDFs Some of these are not available on
the FEMA website as they have been superceded, and
others are only available in hard copy, thus they
are posted here as a public service to enable
research on the evolution of the documents on the
subject of earthquakes and existing buildings in the
USA.
FEMA
154:
(2nd Edition-2002) Rapid Visual Screening of Buildings for
Potential Seismic Hazards.
(FEMA 155 is available only in the Print version directly
from FEMA) This document
is an update of the iconic
FEMA 154 published originally in 1988.
A "Rapid
Visual Screening" SPREADSHEET that is
available exclusively on
www.conservationtech.com can be downloaded
for free by clicking on the link
HERE. IT is intended to provide a
computer-based version of the "Data Collection
Form" in FEMA 154. This spreadsheet has
been developed as a data collection tool so that
it (1) requires no special software other than a
Microsoft-Excel compatible spreadsheet program
mounted on a PC or a Macintosh, and (2) is
completely transparent with full opportunity for
the user to add or change the modification
factors to suit local conditions. As is the
Data Collection Form on which this spreadsheet
is based, this spreadsheet is meant to be able
to be modified by a local authority or any other
user to reflect the needs and special
circumstances that may exist locally...Read
More.
FEMA
273:
(1997) NEHRP Guidelines for the Seismic Retrofit of
Buildings.
This document was later superseded by FEMA 356 & 357 - the "PreStandard".
FEMA
274:
(1997) Commentary on the NEHRP
Guidelines for the Seismic
Rehabilitation of Buildings.
This document was later superseded by FEMA 356 & 357 - the "PreStandard".
FEMA 306,
307, 308: (1998) Evaluation and Repair of Earthquake Damaged
Concrete and Masonry Wall Buildings.
These
volumes are the product of a
multiyear, multi-million dollar
research project to better improve
the post disaster evaluation and
repair of buildings where cracks
and loss of capacity have been
difficult to evaluate in terms of
future risk.
FEMA
310:
(1998) Handbook for the Seismic
Evaluation of Buildings.
FEMA 356: (2000) Report on
the Prestandard and Commentary for
the Seismic Rehabilitation of
Buildings.
FEMA 357:
(2000) Global
Topics Report on the Prestandard
and Commentary for the Seismic
Rehabilitation of Buildings.
This report
documents technical changes to the
chapters of FEMA 273- that were
incorporated in the conversion of
the document into a prestandard.
The Prestandard is one step in the
process to convert FEMA 273 into
an American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) approved national
consensus standard.
ASCE 41: (2007) Seismic Rehabilitation of Existing
Buildings ASCE/SEI 41/06. ASCE Standard No. ASCE/SEI
41-06 This is the
successor document that converts the FEMA PRE-STANDARD into
code language and updates it further. This links to
the ASCE website where the document may be purchased for
download. This is not a government document, and thus
is not available for free. To see the Table of
Contents of ASCE 41 for free, Click on this link and scroll
down to the link for the TOC. A description of this document
is below.
Description of ASCE 41 (from ASCE website)
ASCE/SEI Standard 41-06, Seismic
Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings, is
the latest generation of performance-based
seismic rehabilitation methodology. This new
national consensus standard was developed
from the FEMA 356, Prestandard and
Commentary for the Seismic Rehabilitation of
Buildings, which served as a starting
point for the formal standard development
process. ASCE/SEI Standard 41-06 represents
state-of-the-art knowledge in earthquake
engineering and is a valuable tool for the
structural engineering profession to improve
building performance in future earthquakes.
It includes significant improvements in
current understanding of building behavior
in earthquakes, such as: Improved
C-coefficients for calculation of the
pseudo-lateral force and target displacement
based on recommendations in FEMA 440;
Comprehensive soil-structure interaction
provisions including kinematic effects and
foundation damping effects; Revised
acceptance criteria for steel moment frames
to reflect final conclusions of the SAC
Joint Venture research; Expanded acceptance
criteria for concentrically braced frames
defined as a function of brace slenderness,
compactness and level of connection
detailing; and Updated nonstructural
provisions to be consistent with current
NEHRP Provisions for new buildings.
ASCE/SEI Standard 41-06 is a valuable tool
for structural engineers and the public for
improving seismic performance of existing
buildings. The completion of the new
Standard represents a considerable
advancement for the engineering community.