The unexpected damage to steel frame buildings during the 1989 Loma Prieta. 1994 Northridge and 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquakes has led to considerable research worldwide on the causes of this damage and remedies that can be incorporated into analysis, design, and construction practices. A major 5-year program is being undertaken under the sponsorship of the U.S.Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to synthesize and interpret the results of this research, and to conduct additional research, as required, to develop reliable, practical and cost effective guidelines for the design and construction of new steel moment-frame structures, as well as for the inspection, evaluation and repair or upgrading of existing ones. As part of this program, a number of coordinated investigations are being carried out. The project utilizes a performance-based engineering framework and addresses a broad range of technical, professional, social, economic and policy issues pertaining to various types of steel moment-resisting frames, including those utilizing welded, bolted, partially restrained and energy dissipative connections. The guidelines to be developed wil be applicable regions of low, medium and high seismicity located throughout the U.S. The paper reviews the overall scope of these investigations and the preliminary implications of the results obtained to date.
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