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The Applied Technology Council (ATC) is pleased to announce the ATC-29-1 Seminar on Seismic Design, Retrofit, and Performance of Nonstructural Components, the second in a series of seminars on this subject first held in October 1990. The Seminar will focus on architectural, electrical, and mechanical components and their supports in buildings, hospitals and other essential facilities, and hazardous material and industrial facilities. It will be held January 22-23, 1998 in San Francisco at a site to be announced later. The purpose of the 2-day Seminar is to present current research, practice, and informed thinking pertinent to seismic design, retrofit, and performance of nonstructural components.

The Seminar program has been developed for design professionals, regulators, researchers, manufacturers and contractors, insurers, owners, and facility managers. The following sessions are planned: (1) Current and Proposed Codes and Regulations; (2) Commercial and Institutional Buildings; (3) Hospitals and Other Essential Facilities; and (4) Hazardous Material and Industrial Facilities. Themes and topics to be addressed include:

• Code implementation issues, including qualification
• Observed or expected performance
• Analytical and experimental investigations
• Evaluation and retrofit strategies and guidelines
• Case studies / examples for new or retrofit design.

The Seminar Steering Committee is seeking papers pertaining to the above themes, sessions, and topics. Verbal presentations are planned but the Steering Committee is also considering the possibility of including poster papers. Persons wishing to present a paper at the Seminar are requested to submit an abstract of their paper to ATC on or before September 15, 1997. Abstracts should be one page, typewritten (single spaced) and not more than 250 words in length. Please indicate in the upper right corner of the abstract the format of presentation preferred (verbal or poster). Abstracts should be submitted to: ATC-29-1 Project, Applied Technology Council, 555 Twin Dolphin Drive, Suite 550, Redwood City, CA 94065; Fax: 415/593-2320.

Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by October 1, 1997. Written versions of papers presented at the Seminar, not to exceed 14 pages in length, will be due December 15, 1997 in order to publish the Seminar Proceedings for the opening day of the Seminar.

An exhibition space is planned and exhibits are encouraged.

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Applied Technology Council (ATC) is pleased to announce the ATC-43 Workshop on Evaluation and Repair of Earthquake Damaged Concrete and Masonry Wall Buildings, to be held June 13, 1997 in Los Angeles. The Workshop will provide participants with an opportunity to review and comment on evaluation and repair procedures currently being developed under the ATC-43 project. The program will include overviews of the procedures and example applications. The intended audience for the workshop includes practicing structural engineers and other design professionals, building officials, government agency representatives, and others involved with the evaluation and repair of earthquake damaged buildings.

The ATC-43 project has evolved from the recognition that there has been no generally accepted procedure to evaluate the loss attributable to structural damage for individual buildings following strong earthquake-induced ground shaking. Most engineers, when faced with this question, have attempted to relate the magnitude and extent of the observed damage (i.e. crack width and length in masonry or concrete) to loss of force capacity for individual components and the overall building. There is considerable disagreement over the interpretation of damage and skepticism regarding loss of strength as a meaningful parameter.

The ATC-43 procedures are performance based and will enable design professionals to quantify loss by comparing the anticipated performance of the damaged building subject to future ground shaking to that anticipated for the undamaged building. The scope of the project includes concrete and masonry bearing wall and infilled frame structures. The procedures rely on nonlinear static analysis ("pushover analysis") to relate global response to individual structural components. Modifications to individual force/displacement relationships for structural components reflect the effects of observed damage. The procedures include a simplified direct method to determine performance restoration repairs for many cases.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) initiated and funded this project through the Partnership for Response and Recovery (PaRR), a joint venture of Dewberry & Davis of Arlington, Virginia, and Woodward-Clyde Consultants.

The Workshop will be held from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Wyndham Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport, 6225 West Century Boulevard. For additional information about the Workshop, including registration information, contact Applied Technology Council, 555 Twin Dolphin Drive, Suite 550, Redwood City, California 94065 (Phone: 415/595-1542; Fax 415/593-2320; E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

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** March 1, 2006: Software temporarily unavailable until update process is completed **

The Applied Technology Council (ATC) is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the ATC-20i Mobile Postearthquake Building Safety Evaluation Data Acquisition System (Version 1.0). This personal digital assistant (PDA) application has been developed to facilitate the collection and management of postearthquake safety inspections of earthquake-damaged buildings using the ATC-20 procedures released by ATC in 1989 (ATC-20 Report, ATC-20-1 Field Manual) and updated in 1995 (ATC-20-2 Report). The ATC-20i PDA application enables engineers and building officials to complete the ATC-20 rapid and detailed evaluation forms in the field, print posting placards in the field, and submit the data electronically to the ATC server, where it is stored and tabulated for use by the jurisdictions affected by the earthquake. The application operates on PDAs using Palm Software.

The ATC-20i PDA application is available in two versions: (1) a licensed version that is licensed annually for a small fee; and (2) a freeware version that allows data acquisition in the field, without the possibility of transmission to the ATC server (the freeware version expires after 30 uses). To purchase the software license, go to our online store, under Product Index select ATC-Reports: Building Seismic Hazard Mitigation; then select Postearthquake Damage and Safety Evaluation of Buildings. Here you will find all ATC''s guidelines and related materials for postearthquake evaluation and repair of damaged buildings, including the ATC-20i cost and licensing procedure. Upon verification of your purchace, you will receive an e-mail containing specific instructions for downloading the software, and a temporary password, which you may change after installation.

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