Prototype Building Tsunami Design Examples
Prototype Building Tsunami Design Examples
Prototype Building Tsunami Design Examples
Abstract
This paper will demonstrate the application of the new ASCE 7-16 Chapter 6, Tsunami Loads and Effects, when
applied to prototypical buildings located in various coastal locations. Because this is a new chapter in ASCE 7,
which previously has not included tsunami design, it is important to provide a comprehensive set of worked
examples of typical building and structural element designs to demonstrate how all of the different design
provisions are to be applied. The authors are responsible for the development of two design manuals to be
published by ASCE in 2016 with extensive worked examples of tsunami design. Highlights of these examples
will be illustrated in this paper and presentation.
In addition, the financial consequences of including tsunami loads and effects in the design of coastal
buildings will be illustrated including cost impacts of the first US vertical evacuation structure. For multi-story
reinforced concrete and structural steel buildings designed for moderate to high seismic loads, the tsunami loads
will seldom govern the design of the lateral framing system. However, for low rise critical facilities the increase
in lateral framing system strength and foundation systems will be more significant. In addition, local structural
elements such as gravity load columns or shear walls on the exterior of the building may need to be enhanced.
The tsunami loads that tend to control individual member designs on the exterior of the structure are the
hydraulic drag force with debris accumulation against the building frame, and impact forces due to floating
debris such as logs and shipping containers. Examples of these load calculations and member designs will be
demonstrated, along with the implications for building cost.
Keywords: ASCE7-16, Tsunami Loading, Structural Design, Building Codes, Tsunami Design Examples
16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017
Santiago Chile, January 9th to 13th 2017
1. Introduction
The newly adopted ASCE 7-16 Tsunami Loads and Effects chapter will become the first US national,
consensus-based standard for tsunami resilience of critical and essential facilities, Tsunami Vertical Evacuation
Refuge Structures, and other multi-story building structures [1]. The tsunami design provisions provide a
comprehensive design methodology based on the principles of probabilistic hazard analysis, tsunami physics,
and fluid mechanics. They are specifically intended for use in the five Western US states exposed to a well
defined tsunami threat, namely Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. However, they can be
utilized in any tsunami-prone community once the probabilistic tsunami hazard for that location has been
established.
The ASCE 7-16 tsunami provisions require that critical and essential facilities, including Tsunami Vertical
Evacuation Refuge Structures (Risk Category IV) and large occupancy structures (Risk Category III) that fall
within the mapped Tsunami Design Zone (TDZ) must consider tsunami loading and effects. In addition, the
provisions recommend that local jurisdictions include tsunami design requirements for taller general building
structures (Risk Category II) so as to provide a last resort refuge for people stranded in the inundation zone
without sufficient time to evacuate to high ground. Community resilience to future tsunamis would also be
enhanced by requiring tsunami design of larger buildings that will provide the basis for reestablishing the
community after the event.
As a new chapter in ASCE 7-16, focusing on fluid loading on structures, Chapter 6, Tsunami Loads and
Effects, will address material that is relatively unfamiliar to many structural engineers and others who utilize the
provision of ASCE 7-16. In order to demonstrate the application of these new tsunami design provisions to
typical coastal buildings, the authors are working on design manuals that will aid those using these provisions for
the first time. The first of these design manuals will explain the background to the tsunami design provisions and
demonstrate their application to prototypical multi-story buildings in the TDZ [2]. The second manual will
provide addition example applications of the ASCE 7-16 tsunami design provisions to critical and essential
facilities including vertical evacuation structures [3].
This paper presents example applications of the ASCE 7-16 tsunami provisions to prototypical multi-story
reinforced concrete buildings, and a vertical evacuation building recently completed in Oregon.
2. Prototypical Buildings
5.1 Reinforced Concrete Buildings
Two prototypical reinforced concrete buildings with different structural systems were analyzed and designed for
wind and seismic conditions at three locations: Hilo, Hawaii; Waikiki, Hawaii; and Monterey, California [4].
They were then subjected to tsunami loading appropriate for their location to determine whether strengthening
was required, and how much impact this might have on the construction cost.
One building is a six story office building consisting of exterior moment resisting frames (MRF), a flat
plate floor system, and interior gravity load resisting columns (Figure 1). When located in Hilo and Monterey
this building required perimeter and interior special moment frames for seismic design, while the prototypical
building located in Waikiki has a perimeter intermediate moment frame. The other building is a seven story
residential building consisting of shear walls (SW) at elevators and stairwells, a flat plate floor system, and
gravity load resisting columns (Figure 2). For the Hilo and Monterey locations special reinforced concrete shear
walls were required for the seismic design, while the Waikiki building has ordinary reinforced concrete shear
walls.
Similar design examples were generated for prototypical structural steel buildings [5], but are not
presented here because of space limitations.
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16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017
Santiago Chile, January 9th to 13th 2017
Figure 1 - Prototype 6-Story Reinforced Concrete MRF Office Building Plan and Section
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16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017
Santiago Chile, January 9th to 13th 2017
Figure 2 - Prototype 7-Story Reinforced Concrete Shear Wall Residential Building Plan and Section
The EGL is applied along a transect perpendicular to the shoreline, and two transects rotated 22.5o either
side of this primary transect. Figure 3 shows these three transects for the Hilo building location. Note that the
transects are rotated about the building location. The EGL results for flow depth and flow velocity for all three
Hilo transects are shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5, respectively. The largest results at the project site are to be
used as h max and u max for the structural analysis. Similar analyses were performed for the other locations. Table 1
lists the maximum velocity and flow depth for each building location determined using the Energy Grade Line
Method.
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16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017
Santiago Chile, January 9th to 13th 2017
Figure 3 Energy Grade Line transects for Hilo Bay building location
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16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017
Santiago Chile, January 9th to 13th 2017
Figure 5 - Flow Velocities Based on Distance from Shoreline for Hilo Transect Lines
Where s = 1.1 x 2.0 = 2.2 slugs/cuft (seawater density including sediment and debris)
I tsu = 1.0 (Importance factor for TRC II buildings)
C d = 1.4 (ASCE 7-16 Table 6.10-1 based on B/h sx = 254/8.67 = 29.3)
Therefore controls
B = 254 overall width of building
h = 8.67
u = u max = 18.0 fps (for load case 2)
Substitution gives:
Load Case 3 occurs when the inundation depth is h max = 13.0 ft. and the flow velocity is 1/3u max = 1/3 x
18.0 = 6.0 fps. The resulting lateral load on the building is F dx = 119 kips.
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16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017
Santiago Chile, January 9th to 13th 2017
The controlling lateral load (769 kips) is applied as a uniformly distributed exterior pressure on the coastal
elevation of the building over a height of 8.67 feet above grade. The lateral force resisting system for the
structure at the first floor level is evaluated for this load.
For this example, the controlling load case for overall building tsunami lateral load is LC2, with F dx = 769
kips applied over a height of 8.67 ft. The majority of this load will be resisted by the grade beam/foundation
system, with only about 238 kips transferred to the second floor slab. Because this is well below the 6,212 kip
capacity, the lateral force resisting system has ample capacity to resist the overall tsunami loads.
With , the total force on the structure is . This lateral load is compared
with 0.75 o E h = 0.75 x 2.5 x 3,313 = 6,212 kips > 5,280 kips. Therefore the LFRS is adequate to satisfy this
requirement and the detailed analysis for LC2 and LC3 shown above is not necessary. The components can also
be designed on the basis of this conservative uniform distributed force with the appropriate width b dimensions
but this would yield very conservative results. This simplified approach in not used here, but rather the detailed
loading approach is used for the individual component design in the following section.
6. Component Design
6.1 Drag Force on Components
All structural members below the maximum flow depth must be designed for hydrodynamic drag forces,
including the effect of debris accumulation on the exterior of the building. For example, for exterior columns, the
tributary width must be taken as b = C cx x column spacing = 0.7 x 28 = 19.6 ft. The controlling load case will be
LC2, when the inundation depth is h e = 8.67 ft and u max = 18.0 fps. The hydrodynamic drag is computed as:
This load is applied to the column as an equivalent uniformly distributed lateral load of 121/8.67 = 14.0 kips/ft
over the lower 8.67 feet of the column. The column must be designed for this load combined with gravity loads
using the appropriate load combination.
For interior columns, the hydrodynamic drag is applied to the column only, without any debris
accumulation. The resulting LC2 load of 10.3 kips is applied to the column as an equivalent uniformly
distributed lateral load of 10.3/8.67 = 1.19 kips/ft over the lower 8.67 feet of the column. This load must be
combined with gravity loads and the column capacity verified. Similar hydrodynamic loads act on structural
walls unless the location is subjected to potential tsunami bores, in which case the hydrodynamic drag is
increased by a factor of 1.5 to account for the impulsive load that can develop on relatively wide walls.
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16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017
Santiago Chile, January 9th to 13th 2017
1400
Design Strength Envelope
1.2D + FTSU + 0.5L
1200
0.9D + FTSU
1.2D + FTSU + 0.5L (Impact Loads)
1000
0.9D + FTSU (Impact Loads)
Modified Design Strength Envelope
800
600
Axial Load (k)
400
200
-200
-400
-600
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Bending Moment (k-ft)
Figure 6: Interaction diagram for exterior gravity load column showing tsunami load combinations
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16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017
Santiago Chile, January 9th to 13th 2017
The ASCE7-16 Tsunami Loads and Effects provisions also provide requirements for the design of
countermeasures to reduce the potential for geotechnical failures. A companion paper provides more detailed
information about the design requirements for scour and sediment transport, as well as soil remediation measures
to limit the scour potential [12].
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16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017
Santiago Chile, January 9th to 13th 2017
and to provide a high capacity lateral framing system for both seismic and tsunami loads. Gravity columns
supporting the roof framing were structural steel wide flange sections encased in reinforced concrete for the
lower 14 feet to provide enhanced capacity to resist the hydrodynamic and debris impact loads (Figure 8).
The rest of the perimeter wall was constructed using lightguage steel framing designed to breakaway
from the structure so as to reduce the tsunami loads on the overall structure. Debris damming was included in the
hydrodynamic drag as required by ASCE7-16, but the resulting tsunami lateral load was still less than the
seismic base shear and overturning moments which were driven by the large mass of the roof slab.
The roof was designed as a concrete slab on metal deck supported on wide flange beams spanning the full
width of the gynasium. The beams in turn were supported on girder trusses spanning between the shearwalls and
supported by intermediate steel columns. Because the site was not located near a port facility or shipping
container storage area, the impact of shipping containers was not considered. The design impacts came from
large trees and floating vehicles. In order to optimize the concrete encased steel column design, the debris
impacts were considered as dynamic loads as permitted by the ASCE7-16 provisions. The column response was
calculated using a work-energy approach which reduced the effective impact force by more than 70% from the
static load alternative. This approach is reasonable as the column in its deformed shape could still support the
design gravity loads. Any damaged columns can be replaced after a tsunami event to restore the original integrity
of the refuge structure.
To protect against unanticipated debris loading, the roof structural framing was also designed to prevent
progressive collapse in the event of loss of one of the exterior columns. The staircase shearwalls are capable of
resisting the extraordinary debris impact loads with the expectation that there may be some localized damage at
the impact point. The roof girders are connected to the walls well above the potential impact area so they were
not subjected to any tsunami loads. All curtian wall and non-structural connections to the roof were desgined to
break-away during a tsunami to limit the loads transfered to the structure.
Figure 7 Rendering of Ocosta School gymnasium with Tsunami Vertical Evacuation Refuge on roof.
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16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017
Santiago Chile, January 9th to 13th 2017
Figure 8 Structural framing for Ocosta School Tsunami Vertical Evacuation Refuge
The shearwalls are supported on large pile caps with an arrangement of deep piles reaching through the
liquefiable layers of soil. Piles would have been required for the seismic design, but additional piles were
required to provide lateral support for the shearwalls. In addition piles were required to resist net uplift due to
buoyancy when evaluating Load Case 1. The slab on grade between the pile caps was designed as a structural
slab with intermediate piles to support the slab during earthquake induced liquefaction. This structural slab also
ties the pile caps together laterally and helps to shield most of the piles from scour. However, scour must still be
considered for the exterior piles, especially at the building corners where the shearwall pile caps are located. As
a conservative assumption, the piles at the edge of the building that are exposed due to scour were ignored when
designing for the tsunami load cases.
The addition of a tsunami vertical evacuation structure increased the cost of the project by about 25
percent. This is primarily because the gymnasium roof would have been a much lighter structure with only
minimal stair access for maintenance. The four large staircases, heavy roof structure and additional foundation
piles were major contributors to this increased cost.
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upgrading of the exterior gravity load columns to resist the effects of enhanced hydrodynamic drag due to debris
damming. The exterior columns and any structural walls located on the exterior of the building would also
require upgrading for debris impact, especially if the building is located within close proximity to a shipping
container handling or storage facility due to increased shipping container impact forces.
The ASCE 7-16 tsunami design provisions were also used to design the first Tsunami Vertical Evacuation
Refuge in the United States at Ocosta Elementary School, Washington State. Because this building is a single
story structure with the flat roof designated as the tsunami refuge area, the cost of adding tsunami design was
more significant than for the 6- and 7-story prototypical structures. Nevertheless, the surrounding community
was willing to support the additional cost because of the added tsunami evacuation option it provides for
students of the Ocosta Schools, as well as neighboring residents.
9. References
[1] American Society of Civil Engineers, Structural Engineering Institute. Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria
for Buildings and Other Structures, ASCE/SEI 7-16, 2016.
[2] Robertson, I.N., Tsunami Loads and Effects: Guide to the Tsunami Design Provisions of ASCE 7-16, ASCE
Publications (in preparation).
[3] Thomas, S., Tsunami Loads and Effects: Additional Design Examples, ASCE Publications (in preparation).
[4] Yokoyama, J. and Robertson, I.N., Evaluation of Reinforced Concrete Buildings When Subjected to Tsunami Loads,
University of Hawaii Research Report, UHM/CEE/14-01, 2014.
[5] Cheung, V. and Robertson, I.N., Evaluating the Effects of Tsunami Loading on Prototypical Steel Structures,
University of Hawaii Research Report, UHM/CEE/14-02, 2014.
[6] ACI 318-14: Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete and Commentary, American Concrete Institute,
Farmington Hills, Michigan, 2014.
[7] Mikhaylov, Y., and Robertson, I.N., Evaluation of Prototypical Reinforced Concrete Building Performance When
Subjected to Tsunami Loading, University of Hawaii Research Report, UHM/CEE/09-01, 2009.
[8] Nitta, P. and Robertson, I.N., May 2012, Cost implications of tsunami design for mid-rise concrete buildings,
University of Hawaii Research Report, UHM/CEE/12-13, 2012.
[9] Carden, L., Chock, G., Yu, G., and Robertson, I., The New ASCE Tsunami Design Standard Applied to Mitigate Toho-
ku Tsunami Building Structural Failure Mechanisms, Chapter 22 in Handbook of Coastal Disaster Mitigation for
Engineers and Planners, Editors: Esteban, M., Takagi, H., and Shibayama, H., Elsevier, July 2015, pp. 461-490.
[10] Kriebel, D.L., Lynett, P.J., Cox, D.T., Petroff, C.M., Riggs, H.R., Robertson, I.N., and Chock, G.Y.K., Energy Method
for Approximating Overland Tsunami Flows, Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, 2016 (In
Print).
[11] Chock, G., and Robertson, I.N., Tsunami Design Criteria and Load Cases of the ASCE 7-16 Chapter 6, Tsunami Loads
and Effects, Proceedings of the 16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE, Santiago, Chile,
January, 2017.
[12] Petroff, C., Tonkin, S., and Francis, M., The design of structural foundations for tsunamis in ASCE 7-16 Chapter 6:
Tsunami Loads and Effects, Proceedings of the 16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE,
Santiago, Chile, January, 2017.
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