Innovation in earthquake resistant concrete structure design philosophies; a century of progress since Hennebique's patent

Abstract

Earthquake resistant design has always been a challenge for innovators, partly because the loads are not deterministic, with large magnitudes at extremely low probabilities in the Gumbel distribution, and a consequent need to balance political criticism tomorrow with economic savings today. The paper reviews some design philosophies that have been tried including one that uses end bearing plates to transfer reinforcing bar stresses to the surrounding concrete in beams. This, in hindsight, is similar to the fish tail end details used in Mouchel's early designs. Although the reasoning is different, it brings several strategies together and illustrates how technical innovations attempt to counter difficult problems.