Earthquake Engineering

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Earthquake Engineering for New Design:
BFL OWEN approaches each new design to meet its client-building performance goals. In all structural design work, BFL OWEN engineers rely on first hand experience with national, state and local building codes, and utilize state-of-the-art computer programs for static and dynamic analysis and soil conditions.

Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit Design:
BFL OWEN's principals have been very active and involved in advancements in seismic design, evaluation, and rehabilitation by nature of California's location in a high seismically active region. The company's expertise in seismic analysis and engineering, along with its vast experience in Retrofit design, have provided major relief to many clients with earthquake-damaged buildings or seismic evaluation projects. BFL OWENs' seismic retrofit solutions combine a thorough and accurate structural analysis with an effective retrofit design that maximizes safety and construction economy.

Risk Analysis: BFL OWEN specializes in probabilistic seismic risk analysis to assess the risk faced by property insurers, real estate lenders and municipal bond rating agencies. Advanced methods allow us to go beyond the basic structural evaluation to provide economic or life-safety risk evaluation on a site-by-site basis, or on a portfolio-wide basis. We can establish priorities for further action, evaluate seismic retrofit alternatives, estimate potential casualties, and assess the expected impacts of earthquakes on critical operations. Assessments and Evaluation: BFL OWEN engineers perform building evaluations of existing facilities for both structural and non-structural issues, post-earthquake assessment of damage and post earthquake repair of structures.

The evaluation of existing buildings are performed in accordance with recently adopted "Div-IIIR" of Part-2, Title 24 of "California Building Code (CBC)", UBC 97, and also in conjunction with FEMA documents including the more recent publications of FEMA-310 and FEMA-273. The analysis used for projects includes static and dynamic analysis and also inelastic pushover using the state-of-the-art computer programs. Buildings are modeled in 3-dimension by SAP2000 or ETAB7 finite element programs analyzed under the base excitations and the seismic equivalent prescribed forces.


Retrofit:
Retrofit design is a major component of BFL OWENs' business. We have been chosen by many clients to conduct post-earthquake evaluations for over 2,000 structures. The buildings have been of all construction types. BFL OWEN provided extensive structural services after various Earthquakes. BFL OWEN conducted analyses of condition, including structural soundness, code requirements, current seismic and ADA requirements, solutions for rehabilitative/retrofit work, and remediation plans. Much of retrofit designs have been of facilities that remained occupied while under construction.

Selected Project List:
• The Phoenix Tower, Honolulu, HI
• CSU Dominguez Hills ERC Main Library, Carson, CA
• UCI Crawford Hall Sports Facility, Irvine, CA
• LAC/USC Hospital, Los Angeles, CA
• Pier #39, San Francisco, CA
• UCR Humanities/Olmsted Hall, Riverside, CA
• Central County Jail Facilities, LA, CA
• John Wayne Airport, Orange, CA
• Sacred Heart Church, Los Angeles, CA
• Eisenhower Hospital, Palm Desert, CA
• Hollywood Court Building, Hollywood, CA
• Streamers, Los Gatos, CA
• Marshall Towers, Redwood City, CA
• University of La Verne, La Verne, CA
• Screen Actors' Guild, Hollywood, CA
• Masonic Temple, Hollywood, CA
• United Overseas, Reseda, CA
• Corcoran State Prison, CA
• Gardenview, Northridge, CA
• Vista Terrace, Sherman Oaks, CA
• Regency, Sherman Oaks, CA
• Dickens Towers, Sherman Oaks, CA
• Vallco Shopping Center, Cupertino, CA
• FDIC Building, Los Angeles, CA
• Navy Naval Base
• MCAS, El Toro
• MCAS, Tustin
• Camp Pendelton Marine Corps