Blast Study Receives Engineering Award
San Francisco, CA (April 23, 2008) - The Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) announced the winners of the SEAONC 2008 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards competition. This year a monumental study that could result in significant cost savings and life-safety to our country’s citizens received an award of Merit.
FEMA commissioned a study to analyze how much, if any, blast and progressive-collapse resistance could be gained in older existing buildings if seismic rehabilitation measures are undertaken.This study was a ground-breaking, first step in determining whether a multi-hazard mitigation strategy could save lives and protect communities from economic and human devastation after a terrorist attack or earthquake. As part of this study, FEMA mandated that a seismic rehabilitation design be developed for the Alfred P. Murrah Building, the site of the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.
As part of the team, Degenkolb assessed whether a seismic retrofit can increase the blast resistance of a building, designed retrofit schemes without considering blast, reenacted the 1995 bombing, and reevaluated the conclusions of the FEMA 277 report. Ultimately, the team concluded that seismic strengthening would have prevented the progressive collapse of the building and limited the collapse of individual floors to only the first level.
Awards will be presented on the evening of Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at the City Club in San Francisco. Founded in 1930, SEAONC is committed to advancing the art, science and practice of structural engineering.