Earthquake Engineering Group

Latest Updates on Investigation Into the Collapse of Champlain Towers South

New Report Charts Path Toward Superior Earthquake Recovery

NIST Earthquake Engineering Group Members conduct a preliminary earthquake reconnaissance mission to Turkey

The Earthquake Engineering Group carries out mission functions as lead federal agency for the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) and to improve codes, standards, and practices for buildings and lifelines; support development and commercial application of cost effective and affordable performance-based seismic engineering tools; and conduct disaster and failure studies to reduce the risk of earthquake hazards to buildings, lifelines, fire protection systems, and building occupants. Carries out measurement science research and services to support mission functions as may be necessary; promotes implementation of earthquake risk reduction measures; supports national construction safety teams; and leads planning, coordination, and other statutory functions for NEHRP.

NEWS AND UPDATES

NIST Establishes Expert Team to Investigate the Champlain Towers South Collapse

August 25, 2021

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced today the expert team members who will

A view of rubble in the central business district of Christchurch, New Zealand, following a devastating earthquake.

New Report Charts Path Toward Superior Earthquake Recovery

January 27, 2021

For the last century, seismic building codes and practices have primarily focused on saving lives by reducing the likelihood of significant damage or structural

NIST Details Steps to Keep Buildings Functioning After Natural Hazards

August 21, 2018

After an earthquake, hurricane, tornado or other natural hazard, it’s considered a win if no one gets hurt and buildings stay standing. But an even bigger

View All News and Updates

Projects and Programs

Advancing the Seismic Implementation of High Strength Reinforcement Bars in Reinforced Concrete Structural Wall Systems

Completed

Objective - To conduct a series of tests on wall and coupling beam components reinforced with Grade 60 A706 reinforcement and high-strength Grade 100 reinforcement. Cyclic tests will be conducted on isolated walls and on coupling beams. Individual walls are often joined together by coupling beams

Building-Level Seismic Performance Assessment

Ongoing

Objective: To better understand the seismic performance of buildings designed in areas of medium-to-high seismicity and to identify ways to create enhanced performance through low-damage approaches, improved code provisions, and improved analysis procedures. What is the Problem? Despite progress

Collapse Assessment of Buildings under Seismic Loading

Completed

Objective - To evaluate the collapse probabilities of a suite of steel buildings for a series of increasingly severe earthquake ground motions, and to compare these probabilities to the collapse objective presumed in ASCE/SEI 7. The probabilities of collapse will be determined using the methodology

Collapse Performance Modeling of Nonductile Reinforced Concrete Columns under Combined Axial and Seismic Loading

Completed

Objective - The objective of this study is to improve the simulation and prediction of the shear and axial load-deformation response of ordinary reinforced concrete columns in the context of PBSE. This study will be conducted at (1) the element-level, where a new shear and axial load failure model

Publications

Utilization of stochastic ground motion simulations for scenario-based performance assessment of geo-structures

November 30, 2024

Author(s)

Mohammadamin Hariri Ardebili, Sanaz Rezaeian

A Technical Framework to Map Functional Recovery Performance Objectives to Prescriptive Seismic Design Provisions for Buildings

September 19, 2024

Author(s)

Dustin Cook, Siamak Sattar

Designing buildings for improved functional recovery represents a major shift in the current design paradigm. Given the novelty of the functional recovery

Systematic Review of Embodied Carbon Assessment and Reduction in Building Life Cycles

September 18, 2024

Author(s)

Yating Zhang, Siamak Sattar, Dustin Cook, Katherine Johnson, Juan Fung

The building and construction sector is the largest carbon emitter, accounting for more than one-third of annual global emissions. The emissions can be divided

Construction Quality and Assurance for Functional Recovery Design

September 6, 2024

Author(s)

Jakub Valigura, Dustin Cook, Siamak Sattar

As part of the ACI 374A Subcommittee on Design of Reinforced Concrete Structure for Functional Recovery, the authors held six expert panel discussions with

Earthquake Engineering Group

NEWS AND UPDATES

NIST Establishes Expert Team to Investigate the Champlain Towers South Collapse

New Report Charts Path Toward Superior Earthquake Recovery

NIST Details Steps to Keep Buildings Functioning After Natural Hazards

Projects and Programs

Advancing the Seismic Implementation of High Strength Reinforcement Bars in Reinforced Concrete Structural Wall Systems

Building-Level Seismic Performance Assessment

Collapse Assessment of Buildings under Seismic Loading

Collapse Performance Modeling of Nonductile Reinforced Concrete Columns under Combined Axial and Seismic Loading

Publications

Utilization of stochastic ground motion simulations for scenario-based performance assessment of geo-structures

A Technical Framework to Map Functional Recovery Performance Objectives to Prescriptive Seismic Design Provisions for Buildings

Systematic Review of Embodied Carbon Assessment and Reduction in Building Life Cycles

Construction Quality and Assurance for Functional Recovery Design

Awards

Aspasia Nikolaou Receives Metropolitan Section Civil Engineer of the Year for 2020 – 2021

Siamak Sattar Receives Housner Fellowship

Dr. John Harris selected Fellow, ASCE/SEI

Contacts