Earthquake Damage Assessment of Residential Wood-Frame Structures

Abstract

To ensure rapid recovery after a major earthquake, local communities will need engineering resources to provide efficient assessment and repair of damage to wood-frame structures. Motivated by inconsistencies in the earthquake damage assessment process following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and in an effort to substantially improve our profession's response to the next major earthquake, the Earthquake Damage Assessment and Repair project was initiated under the auspices of the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREE) to conduct research and develop guidelines for the assessment and repair of earthquake damage in wood-frame construction. One result of this project was the publication of General Guidelines for the Assessment and Repair of Earthquake Damage in Residential Woodframe Buildings . The intent of this paper is to provide an overview of this publication and how it can be used by architects and engineers to more effectively and efficiently evaluate the nature and extent of earthquake damage to residential wood-frame structures, and to identify the most appropriate repairs.