Keith Porter is a Research Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, and principal of the risk consulting company SPA Risk LLC. He helped lead the ShakeOut Scenario and performed much of the engineering calculations underlying the San Francisco Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety’s soft-story element. (kporter@sparisk.com)
Disasters are occurring with increasing severity and frequency [NOAA 2018]. Communities are also shifting design objectives to consider building functionality. As the severity increases and the design objective shifts, design standards generally rise with higher strength levels and stricter detailing requirements. …