Tsunami Loads and Effects

by Ian Robertson

Published 18 September 2020

The devastating tsunamis that struck Chile and Japan in 2010 and 2011 underscored the critical need for new structural design criteria to improve building resilience and safeguard human life. As a result, provisions for tsunami loads are included in Standard ASCE/SEI 7-16, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures. In this authoritative companion guide, Ian Robertson leads readers through the application of tsunami design and connects the ASCE 7-16 tsunami provisions to prior design guidelines, laboratory research, and field surveys. Then Robertson explains the key concepts in the provisions and demonstrates their application in numerous examples and a full-length tsunami design of a prototype building. The guide also explains the tsunami provisions for foundation design, structural countermeasures, vertical evacuation refuges, nonstructural components and systems, and critical nonbuilding structures. Tsunami Loads and Effects: Guide to the Tsunami Design Provisions of ASCE 7-16 will be welcomed by structural, coastal, and geotechnical engineers, as well as architects, building code officials, contractors, and emergency managers.

|The devastating tsunamis that struck Chile and Japan in 2010 and 2011 underscored the critical need for new structural design criteria to improve building resilience and safeguard human life. As a result, provisions for tsunami loads are included in Standard ASCE/SEI 7-16, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures. In this authoritative companion guide, Ian Robertson leads readers through the application of tsunami design and connects the ASCE 7-16 tsunami provisions to prior design guidelines, laboratory research, and field surveys. Then Robertson explains the key concepts in the provisions and demonstrates their application in numerous examples and a full-length tsunami design of a prototype building. The guide also explains the tsunami provisions for foundation design, structural countermeasures, vertical evacuation refuges, nonstructural components and systems, and critical nonbuilding structures. Tsunami Loads and Effects: Guide to the Tsunami Design Provisions of ASCE 7-16 will be welcomed by structural, coastal, and geotechnical engineers, as well as architects, building code officials, contractors, and emergency managers.