This document provides recommended criteria for the design of steel moment-frame buildings to resist the effects of earthquakes. These recommendations were developed by practicing engineers, based on professional judgment and experience, and by a program of laboratory, field and analytical research. While every effort has been made to solicit comments from a broad selection of the affected parties, this is not a consensus document. It is primarily intended as a resource document for organizations with appropriate consensus processes for the development of future design standards and building code provisions.
This report, FEMA-350 – Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings has been developed by the SAC Joint Venture under contract to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide organizations engaged in the development of consensus design standards and building code provisions with recommended criteria for the design and construction of new buildings incorporating moment-resisting steel frame construction to resist the effects of earthquakes. It is one of a series of companion publications addressing the issue of the seismic performance of steel moment-frame buildings. The set of companion publications includes:
•FEMA-350 – Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame
Buildings. This publication provides recommended criteria, supplemental to FEMA 302 – 1997 NEHRP Recommended Provisions for Seismic Regulations for New Buildings and other Structures, for the design and construction of steel moment-frame buildings and provides alternative performance-based design criteria.
•FEMA-351 – Recommended Seismic Evaluation and Upgrade Criteria for Existing Welded Steel Moment-Frame Buildings. This publication provides recommended methods to evaluate the probable performance of existing steel moment-frame buildings in future earthquakes and to retrofit these buildings for improved performance.
•FEMA-352 – Recommended Postearthquake Evaluation and Repair Criteria for Welded Steel Moment-Frame Buildings. This publication provides recommendations for performing postearthquake inspections to detect damage in steel moment-frame buildings following an earthquake, evaluating the damaged buildings to determine their safety in the postearthquake environment, and repairing damaged buildings.
•FEMA-353 – Recommended Specifications and Quality Assurance Guidelines for Steel Moment-Frame Construction for Seismic Applications. This publication provides recommended specifications for the fabrication and erection of steel moment frames for seismic applications. The recommended design criteria contained in the other companion documents are based on the material and workmanship standards contained in this document, which also includes discussion of the basis for the quality control and quality assurance criteria contained in the recommended specifications.
Detailed derivations and explanations of the basis for these design and evaluation
recommendations may be found in a series of State of the Art Report documents prepared by the SAC Joint Venture in parallel with these design criteria. These reports include:
•FEMA-355A – State of the Art Report on Base Metals and Fracture. This report summarizes current knowledge of the properties of structural steels commonly employed in building construction, and the production and service factors that affect these properties.
•FEMA-355B – State of the Art Report on Welding and Inspection. This report summarizes current knowledge of the properties of structural welding commonly employed in building construction, the effect of various welding parameters on these properties, and the effectiveness of various inspection methodologies in characterizing the quality of welded construction.
•FEMA-355C – State of the Art Report on Systems Performance of Steel Moment Frames Subject to Earthquake Ground Shaking. This report summarizes an extensive series of analytical investigations into the demands induced in steel moment-frame buildings designed to various criteria, when subjected to a range of different ground motions. The behavior of frames constructed with fully restrained, partially restrained and fracture-vulnerable connections is explored for a series of ground motions, including motion anticipated at near-fault and soft-soil sites.
•FEMA-355D – State of the Art Report on Connection Performance. This report summarizes the current state of knowledge of the performance of different types of moment-resisting connections under large inelastic deformation demands. It includes information on fully restrained and partially restrained moment connections in welded and bolted configurations, based upon laboratory and analytical investigations.
•FEMA-355E – State of the Art Report on Past Performance of Steel Moment-Frame
Buildings in Earthquakes. This report summarizes investigations of the performance of steel moment-frame buildings in past earthquakes, including the 1995 Kobe, 1994 Northridge, 1992 Landers, 1992 Big Bear, 1989 Loma Prieta and 1971 San Fernando events.
•FEMA-355F – State of the Art Report on Performance Prediction and Evaluation of Steel Moment-Frame Buildings. This report describes the results of investigations into the ability of various analytical techniques, commonly used in design, to predict the performance of steel moment-frame buildings subjected to earthquake ground motion. Also presented is the basis for performance-based evaluation procedures contained in the design criteria documents, FEMA-350, FEMA-351, and FEMA-352.
In addition to the recommended design criteria and the State of the Art Reports, a companion document has been prepared for building owners, local community officials and other non-technical audiences who need to understand this issue. A Policy Guide to Steel Moment-Frame Construction (FEMA 354), addresses the social, economic, and political issues related to the earthquake performance of steel moment-frame buildings. FEMA 354 also includes discussion of the relative costs and benefits of implementing the recommended criteria.
