Earthquake Resistant Design of Buildings

This subject introduces the fundamental concepts and practice of earthquake resistant design of buildings from an international perspective, incorporating consideration of design in regions of low to moderate seismicity such as Australia and in regions of high seismicity. The design of economically and environmentally feasible structures that can successfully withstand the forces and displacements generated by severe ground motions is a challenge demanding the best in structural engineering art and science. This subject builds on knowledge of Risk Analysis, Engineering Mathematics, Dynamics, and Structural Theory and Design to allow candidates to work as a supervised graduate engineer in this specialised area of practice. Topics covered include plate tectonics and seismicity, structural response to earthquake ground motions, design philosophy and design applications to buildings, deformation modelling and capacity response spectrum method, seismic design and detailing of reinforced concrete building structures, seismic hazard and site specific hazard analysis.

• 1ILO1 - Describe seismicity of the world and the role of plate tectonics
• 2ILO2 - Perform seismic hazard and site specific analysis to quantify potential seismic hazards on infrastructure
• 3ILO3 - Undertake seismic analysis of building structures using a commercial software package and verify results using manual calculations
• 4ILO4 - Undertake seismic design and assessment of building structures. The implementation of measures to improve environmental sustainability will be discussed in relation to design
• 5ILO5 - Interpret the requirements of building codes of practice on seismic detailing of reinforced concrete building structures.