Basis of Design

STRUCTURAL DESIGN MANUAL

FOR SEISMIC RETROFIT PROJECTS DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

July 16, 2002

1. CRITERIA UNIQUE TO VA

Existing buildings requiring seismic strengthening shall be designed in

accordance with VA Handbook H-18-8, Seismic Design Requirements, Revised, June

2002.

2. GENERAL

2.1 Structural design shall comply with the latest editions of the following:

2.1.1 Reinforced Concrete Design - ACI 318, Building Code Requirements for

Reinforced Concrete, American Concrete Institute.

2.1.2 Structural Steel Design - Specification for Structural Steel for

Buildings, American Institute of Steel Construction, Inc.

2.1.3 International Building Code 2000 International Code Council, Inc.

2.1.4 Significant variations from the above in local building codes shall be

brought to the attention of the Project Manager, for approved substitution

prior to their use in the structural design.

2.2 Where applicable, verify the load-bearing capability of the existing

structural elements to support the new design loads.

2.3 Where alterations are made to the structural elements in existing

buildings, these elements individually and the buildings as units, must

maintain adequate strength to safely resist both gravity and lateral loads.

Any resulting deficiencies must be reinforced accordingly.

2.4 Follow the Fire Protection Design Manual for fireproofing requirements of

structural elements.

3. BASIS OF DESIGN

3.1 Prepare contract documents including specifications to reinforce the

existing building to resist maximum considered earthquake and design spectral

response acceleration obtained from maps prepared by U.S. Geological Survey.

3.2 The existing building shall be inspected for indications of any structural

alterations, deteriorations, or significant differential settlement affecting

the capacity of the building to resist superimposed vertical and lateral

loads.

3.3 Explore methods of reinforcing the building to arrive at the most

desirable solution considering both total construction cost and minimizing

noise and disruption of the facility's operation during construction.

Correlate also to existing functional requirements with proposed structural

changes desired.

3.4 Reinforce interior and exterior walls as necessary to resist in plane and

out of plane forces.