Founding Principal

Forell/Elsesser Engineers, Inc.

March 22, 2002, 4:00 pm EST,
Hesburgh Center Auditorium

"The Search for the Perfect Seismic Protection System"

Seismic design of buildings has slowly evolved over the centuries by a trial and error process.  Initial progress resulted from altering building methods in response to observed earthquake damage.  In recent decades the process of change has been governed primarily by formal research in structural laboratories and institutes.

The trend in the early 1900's was to use conventional building technology with minor modifications to account for earthquakes.  In the past 50 years the primary focus has been the study and enhancement of conventional systems and element connections.

In the 1990's the development and use of seismic energy dissipation mechanisms, such as link devices, dampers, and base isolation, has gained widespread interest and is increasingly being used to advantage to protect buildings from earthquakes.

The challenge confronting performance-based design is reconciling the conflict of "displacement";  minimum displacement is required for damage control, while maximum displacement is required for favorable energy dissipation.  This seismic displacement contradiction must be solved to attain the desired level of seismic protection in structures.

This paper outlines potential new directions which utilize mechanisms for energy dissipation and favorable building forms and configurations,  all with the goal of developing predictable and favorable seismic performance.

(Presentation Poster, 463 KB) Elsesser, Eric, "The Search for the Perfect Seismic Protection System".

Mr. Elsesser has been actively engaged in seismic response studies, earthquake code criteria, and research to determine the most economical structural solution to the earthquake problem. Mr. Elsesser has lectured widely, has authored numerous papers on seismic design, and was a consultant for the book Building Configuration and Seismic Design by Arnold and Reitherman.