Understanding the Principles and Procedures Behind ASCE 41

The Standard for seismic retrofit and evaluation of existing buildings, ASCE/SEI 41, is required for the evaluation of all federal buildings as well as seismically vulnerable buildings targeted by some recently passed California ordinances. Although the Standard appears foreign to some design professionals used to the prescriptive force-based procedures developed for new building design, ASCE 41 provides clarification for many questions a design professional is confronted with in evaluating existing non-ductile buildings. This presentation highlights important issues with existing building evaluation not appropriately addressed by new building code. It then steps through the principles of using the ASCE 41 procedures and provides context for the various analysis sections.