ABSTRACT
The challenge in seismic design of new equipment or seismic retrofit of existing equipment is to do all that is necessary, but only what is necessary. It is essential to avoid doing too little or doing too much. An example of doing too little starts with an owner who specifies the seismic requirement as a one-liner: “Seismic design in accordance with building code”, with no further thought as to the scope and purpose of the seismic effort (what is to be seismically designed and why?); and a designer with no experience who in turn would follow a cook book [ASHRAE, NFPA 13, SMACNA], and place some sway braces here and there, with little understanding of seismic design. An example of doing too much is that of a designer who would spend an inordinate amount of time and effort in seismic analysis or testing, taking a purely academic or unnecessarily complex approach to seismic qualification, or concluding that a prohibitive amount of new hardware and construction are needed to qualify the system.
