Maximum Credible Earthquake

[Engingguy]

Hello,
I am working on a project, and a comment received on a submission suggested “adding consideration for peak horizontal velocities associate with a maximum credible earthquake and/or operating basis earthquake”. The project is located in an extremely seismically stable area (in the US),and I have never considered seismic factors for any project I have worked on (which is many). Any guidance as to a publication or accepted procedure? I have determined Min and Max SS and S1 from the USGS website. What next?

Thanks

 

[wannabeSE]

Determine the Seismic Design Category. If it is "A" it is exempt from the seismic provisions but needs to consider structural integrity per ASCE 7-10 chapter 1 (lateral load = 1% of weight)

 

[Engingguy]

Fx = 0.01Wx (1.4.1) would be simple enough, but they specifically want me to use peak horizontal velocities associated with an MCE. I have determined Sds and Sd1, and my Sds gives me a risk category A from Table 11.6.1 in ASCE 7-10. So now that I have them, how do I apply these to design consideration for my structure?

 

[Deker]

It might help if you could provide some more context about what you are doing, who is the reviewer, what it the intent of the review, etc. Can they require you to design for seismic loads even though your are exempt per ASCE 7? Do they want your building to remain elastic under MCE level shaking? Or are they asking that you design for the maximum considered earthquake rather than the design earthquake?

Ss and S1 are modified by site class coefficients Fa and Fv to get the MCE level accelerations Sms and Sm1 for your site. In normal building design we use 2/3 of these values to get the design level accelerations Sds and Sd1. But if they want you to design for MCE, you can substitute Sms and Sm1 anywhere you would use Sds and Sd1 in Chapter 12 of ASCE 7.