Research Supported by LATBSDC
The Los Angeles Tall Buildings Structural Design Council (LATBSDC) supports research aimed at advancing the analysis and design of tall buildings. Each year, the Council selects one research project for funding based on its technical merit, relevance to tall building design, and potential to advance engineering practice.
The research program focuses on topics that can provide a basis for the continued development of the LATBSDC Guidelines for Performance-Based Seismic Design of Tall Buildings. Research findings are intended to be directly evaluated and, where appropriate, incorporated into future editions of the LATBSDC Guidelines, helping ensure that the document reflects current research, analytical capabilities, and advances in performance-based design.
The projects listed below have received research funding from LATBSDC in support of this objective.
Development of New Fragility Relations for Tall Building Design and Evaluation
Principal Investigator:
John W. Wallace, Distinguished Professor
University of California, Los Angeles
Award Year:
2026-2027
LATBSDC Funding:
$15,000
Project Status:
Ongoing — March 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027
Project Summary:
This project develops updated fragility relations for structural systems commonly used in modern tall buildings, with emphasis on reinforced concrete core walls, coupling beams, and slab-column connections. Existing FEMA P-58 fragility relations for these components are based in part on limited experimental data, simplified response parameters, or engineering judgment. The project will use more comprehensive experimental databases now available to develop improved fragility relationships that better represent component behavior, detailing, geometry, and relevant engineering demand parameters.
Relevance to LATBSDC Guidelines:
Improved fragility relations will provide a more reliable basis for evaluating damage, repair consequences, and functional recovery of tall buildings. The work directly supports the LATBSDC-funded resilience research led by Vesna Terzic and will improve the reliability of that project's functional-recovery assessments. The resulting relationships can provide supporting technical data for resilience and performance criteria considered in future editions of the LATBSDC Guidelines.
Key Outcomes / Deliverables:
Updated fragility relations for reinforced concrete core-wall components.
Improved fragility relations for coupling beams accounting for reinforcement detailing and aspect ratio.
Updated fragility relations for slab-column connections.
Improved component-level inputs for functional-recovery assessment of tall buildings.
Technical report documenting the research findings.
Journal paper presenting the results.
Presentation of results at the LATBSDC Annual Conference and potentially other national engineering conferences.
Related Publications and Resources:
Final research report and journal publication to be added upon completion of the project.
Development and Implementation of the Resilient-Based Seismic Design Guidelines for Tall Buildings
Principal Investigator:
Vesna Terzic, Professor
California State University, Long Beach
Award Year:
2025-2026
LATBSDC Funding:
$20,000
Project Status:
Ongoing
Project Summary:
This project investigates the seismic resilience of tall buildings designed in accordance with current LATBSDC criteria and develops a framework for incorporating resilience objectives into future design guidelines. The study evaluates approximately 5–10 archetype tall buildings using the F-Rec framework to quantify post-earthquake loss of functionality and recovery time. The initial phase focuses on structural components and Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) demands. A sensitivity study will examine relationships between engineering demand parameters, such as story drift, and measures of building resilience.
Relevance to LATBSDC Guidelines:
The project is intended to establish quantitative relationships between engineering demand parameters and measures of resilience, including post-earthquake functionality and recovery time. These relationships will provide the technical basis for developing resilience-based acceptance criteria for tall buildings and evaluating their potential incorporation into future editions of the LATBSDC Guidelines. Development of the acceptance criteria is envisioned in coordination with the LATBSDC committee and the City of Los Angeles.
Key Outcomes / Deliverables:
Assessment of the resilience of representative tall buildings designed using current LATBSDC criteria.
Quantification of loss of functionality and recovery time using the F-Rec framework.
Sensitivity studies relating engineering demand parameters to resilience measures.
Development of resilience-based criteria linking structural response to functionality and recovery.
Proposed resilience-based acceptance criteria for consideration in future LATBSDC Guidelines.
Related Publications and Resources:
F-Rec Framework: Novel Framework for Probabilistic Evaluation of Functional Recovery of Building Systems, PEER Report 2021/06.
Related published research on probabilistic evaluation of post-earthquake functional recovery of tall reinforced-concrete core-wall buildings.