Recent Advances in Seismic Design of Steel Structures
Chia-Ming Uang
Professor, Department of Structural Engineering
University of California, San Diego
NON-JHU PARTICIPANTS – RSVP to attend by visiting https://forms.gle/Fq5tSd3jpEJ3MML89
The AISC Seismic Provisions are the design and construction standard for steel buildings in the U.S. The modern version of this standard, first published in 2005, is strongly influenced by the lessons learned from the “unexpected” brittle fracture of beam-to-column connections in steel moment frames discovered in the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake. This seminar will first present how this earthquake shapes seismic research, the development of the Seismic Provisions, as well as design and construction practice of not only steel moment frames but also other types of steel seismic force-resisting systems in the past two decades. For steel Special Moment Frames, proposed changes to the next (2022) edition of the Seismic Provisions based on recent research activities at UCSD will be discussed. To highlight how the engineering community reacted to the Northridge earthquake, the presentation will conclude with one example to highlight how engineers in the U.S. Americanized a popular system (Buckling-restrained Braced Frame, with the concept originally from Japan) for adoption in the Seismic Provisions in 2005; recent development of a low-cycle fatigue model at UCSD to predict the remaining life of buckling-restrained braces will be presented.
Chia-Ming Uang is a Professor in the Department of Structural Engineering at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Professor Uang’s research area is in seismic design, rehabilitation, and testing of large-scale steel structures. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award in 2015, and a Special Achievement Award in 2007 from American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). He is also a member of the AISC Committee of Specifications, Member Design Committee, and Seismic Committee. Professor Uang received three research awards from American Society of Civil Engineers: Raymond C. Reese Research Prize in 2001 as well as Moisseiff Award in 2004 and 2014. He is also a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award from UCSD Academic Senate in 2004. Professor Uang is coauthor of two textbooks on structural analysis and structural steel design.