Orange County Branch Newsletter

April 2014

Branch News

Branch News - Convincing the Profession to Adopt Rocking Foundations for Buildings and Bridges


By: Doug Moon, P.E.

The March 13th, 2014 joint event between the ASCE OC Branch and OC SEI was the inaugural event for OC SEI. Professor Bruce Kutter of UC Davis presented his research on the application and benefits of designing rocking foundations for buildings and bridges. The presentation was very fascinating and drew a good variety of structural and geotechnical engineers. Many of the attendees were newcomers to ASCE events showing that the OC SEI is helping in gaining exposure for ASCE for engineers in the structural and geotechnical fields, and for both bridge and building practitioners. Dr. Kutter presented results from large scale rocking foundation testing which showed that these foundation types can adequately resist the loads from a seismic event by achieving high rotations which dissipate the energy without damaging the footing to column connection. With recommendations implemented in Caltrans Memo to Designers (forthcoming) and ASCE 41-13, these rocking type foundations can be widely accepted and implemented in bridge and building design in seismically active regions.

Visit our Sponsor

Sponsors