Simpson Strong-Tie Completes Earthquake Testing as Part of NEES-Soft Project
PLEASANTON, Calif. — As part of the NEES-Soft project led by Colorado State University, Simpson Strong-Tie and other industry collaborators successfully completed earthquake testing of a Simpson Strong-Tie Strong Frame® special moment frame seismic retrofit of a four-story building during several days of testing from July 24 to August 5 at the University of California San Diego.
The testing was intended to validate the FEMA P-807 guidelines that address seismic retrofit requirements for weak-story, wood-frame buildings in seismically active regions of the United States. The test set up featured a full-scale, four-story wood-frame building with a soft (weak) first story. Simpson Strong-Tie Strong Frame special moment frames were used to retrofit just the first story of the building (the garage area) to see if a lower-cost alternative could minimize building damage during an earthquake. Using the university’s outdoor shake table, the building was subjected to four earthquakes that ranged in magnitude from approximately 3.5 to 6.5.