Drift-Driven Design of Buildings

This book summarizes the most essential concepts that every engineer designing a new building or evaluating an existing structure should consider in order to control the damage caused by drift (deformation) induced by earthquakes. It presents the work on earthquake engineering done by Dr. Mete Sozen and dozens of his collaborators and students over decades of experimentation, analysis, and reconnaissance. Many of the concepts produced through this work are integral part of earthquake engineering today. Nevertheless, the connection between the concepts in use today and the original sources is not always explained. Drift-Driven Design of Buildings summarizes Sozen's research, provides common language and notation from subject to subject, provides examples and supporting data, and adds historical context as well as class notes that were the result of Sozen’s dedication to teaching. It distills reinforced concrete building design to resist earthquake demands to its essence in a way that no other available book does. The recommendations provided are not only essential but also of the utmost simplicity which is not the result of uninformed neglect of relevant parameters but rather the result of careful consideration and selection of parameters to retain only those that are most critical.

Features:

• Provides the reader with a clear understanding of the essential features that control the seismic response of RC buildings
• Describes a simple (perhaps the simplest) seismic design method available
• Includes the underlying hard data to support and explain the methods described
• Presents decades of work by one of the most prolific and brilliant civil engineers in the United States in the second half of the 20th century

Drift-Driven Design of Buildings serves as a useful guide for civil and structural engineering students for self-study or in-class learning, as well as instructors and practicing engineers.