National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program

Development of NEHRP Research and Development Plan to
Support Performance-Based Seismic Design

Award

Under solicitation number SB1341-07-RQ-0445, contract SB134107SE1029 was awarded to the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) for $198,867.00. The period of performance is the date of the award, September 10, 2007, through January 31, 2010.

About NIBS

Authorized by the U.S. Congress in the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-383), NIBS is a non-profit, non-governmental organization focused on the identification and resolution of problems and potential problems that hamper the construction of safe, affordable structures for housing, commerce, and industry throughout the United States.

NIBS is directed by a 21-member Board of Directors, 15 of whom are elected and six of whom are appointed by the President of the United States subject to the approval of the U.S. Senate. The Institute operates a number of councils which advise key aspects of many of its technical programs. The Institute's professional staff provides essential technical, managerial, and administrative support for all NIBS programs.

Specific Tasks

Specific tasks that the NIBS team will perform include:

1. Analyzing FEMA 445, Next-Generation Performance-Based Seismic Design Guidelines: Program Plan for New and Existing Buildings, to determine the limitations placed on Performance-Based Seismic Design (PBSD) development by following the lower level of effort that is outlined in that report.
2. Developing a research and development (R&D) plan for the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) that outlines the fundamental (basic) research and problem-focused (applied) research that are needed to support the ultimate development of comprehensive PBSD for both new and existing buildings.

It is anticipated that NIBS shall convene a workshop of leading practitioners and researchers as a part of this task. This workshop would serve to focus the views of leading practitioners and researchers on this topic in a single, unified report.

With respect to issues related to PBSD tied to existing buildings, NIBS shall confer with the joint Applied Technology Council (ATC)–Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) team that will conduct an existing buildings NEHRP R&D workshop in September 2007 to ensure that the conclusions of this PBSD workshop are compatible with those that are forthcoming from the ATC–EERI effort.

Key Personnel

Selected qualifications and experience of the official principal investigators and key personnel assigned to this effort are summarized below:

• Claret Heider, Principal Investigator
  Ms. Heider has worked with NIBS since the early 1980s and currently serves as the vice president for both Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) and Multihazard Mitigation Council (MMC) programs. Since 2000, Mrs. Heider has directed projects under several NEHRP-related contracts including those that provide for the updating of the NEHRP Recommended Provisions for Seismic Regulations for New Buildings and Other Structures and for information dissemination efforts related to the Provisions that have resulted in several training-related publications such as the Homebuilder's Guide to Earthquake-Resistant Design and Construction. Other major projects for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) include conduct of the MMC independent study to assess the future savings from mitigation activities, the HAZUS loss estimation program development work, and a variety of American Lifelines Alliance projects. Major efforts for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) include those related to building community implementation of recommendations generated by the NIST World Trade Center investigation.
• Bernard Murphy, P.E., Co-Principal Investigator
  Mr. Murphy joined NIBS in 1998 after completing a 28 year career in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps. As the Director of Special Projects for both BSSC and MMC, he has project management responsibilities for several projects funded by FEMA and NIST. More specifically, Mr. Murphy served as the project director for the development of the 2000 and 2003 NEHRP Recommended Provisions for Seismic Regulations for New Buildings and Other Structures and is currently serving as the project director for the development of the 2009 edition. In addition, he holds management responsibility for several NIST projects related to progressive collapse.

BSSC will employ a Project Management Committee (PMC) that is comprised of a number of national leaders in earthquake engineering and PBSD:

• Andre Filliatrault, Deputy Director, Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
• William Holmes, Principal, Rutherford and Chekene, San Francisco, CA
• John Hooper, Director of Earthquake Engineering, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Seattle, WA
• Nicholas Luco, Research Structural Engineer, US Geological Survey, Denver, CO
• Jack Moehle, Director, Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
• Maryann Phipps, President, Estructure, El Cerrito, CA

William Holmes will serve as the Project Technical Director. Mike Mahoney of FEMA and Jack Hayes of NIST will serve as ex officio members of the PMC.

In addition, Ron Hamburger, Senior Principal and Head of Structural Engineering, Western Region, Simpson, Gumpertz, & Heger, Inc., San Francisco, CA, will serve as a special consultant to the PMC, as a representative of the FEMA-funded ATC project 58, Development of Next-Generation Performance-Based Seismic Design Procedures for New and Existing Buildings.

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