Project Description

Mission Statement

Until the January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake, welded steel moment frame buildings were thought to be among the most earthquake-resistant types of structures. Over 200 buildings of this structural type suffered brittle fractures at connections in this magnitude 6.7 earthquake. None of these steel frame buildings collapsed, but the unexpected type and severity of damage effectively invalidated then-current building code provisions. In the Kobe, Japan Earthquake, which occurred exactly one year later, damage to steel buildings was even more disturbing: 10% of the steel buildings in Kobe designed to current Japanese building standards collapsed.

The SAC Joint Venture was formed in mid-1994 with the goal of developing reliable, practical, and cost-effective guidelines and standards of practice for the repair or upgrading of damaged steel moment frame buildings, the design of new steel buildings, and the identification and rehabilitation of at-risk steel buildings.