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Foreword:
In the introduction to the first edition of Earthquake design practice for buildings, David Key memorably wrote ‘Earthquake engineering has to a large extent slipped out of the hands of the practical designer, and into the hands of the specialist, who usually employs a suite of computer programs to provide great quantities of unnecessarily precise information . . .’ and it was partly for this reason that he directed that first edition to the needs of the practical designer, not to those of the earthquake specialist. In the intervening years the science of earthquake engineering has advanced enormously, and today it is inconceivable that a large building project would be built in an earthquake area without the advice of a specialist.
Indeed Edmund Booth who, with David Key, has so admirably expanded and updated this book, is one of today’s leading earthquake engineering specialists. But the resulting book is not written for the specialist. It is remarkable in the way it adheres to the main goal which motivated David Key in the first place – to make earthquake engineering intelligible and interesting to the non-specialist, practical designer.
Today there is of course much more ground to cover than there was in 1988 – the development of codes, the improved understanding of ground motion, new methods of analysis and many innovations in providing for earthquake resistance – and these are all succinctly covered in this new edition with admirable clarity. But the key features that made the first edition so valuable are still present. First, that the approach to earthquake engineering presented derives from the authors’ direct observation of the damage to buildings in large earthquakes; the principal modes of damage are clearly identified, and many very well chosen photographs are used to illustrate these. This experience is used to inform the design guidance given.
Second, the book does not depend on a heavily mathematical approach. Rather, equations are used sparingly and the authors rely on good, clear descriptions of structural behaviour, backed by excellent diagrams, making the text accessible to all those who have to deal with the design of buildings structures for earthquake areas, whether as engineers or architects.
Third, the book is based on long personal experience by both authors of the design of buildings in earthquake areas worldwide, and can thus give authoritative advice on the appropriate codes, design procedures and structural arrangements to adopt for both highly seismic areas and areas of low seismicity. This is advice we can rely on.
Special features of this edition which will make it particularly valuable to engineering designers are:
- its timely account of the Eurocodes, now finally becoming published documents and soon to become mandatory in some areas, with which Edmund Booth has been closely involved
- the excellent chapter on conceptual design, setting out some fundamentals which should be thought about while a building’s form and siting are still being developed, and which architects as well as engineers will find illuminating
- a valuable new chapter on the assessment and strengthening of existing buildings, an activity whose importance is already growing in many countries, as we look for ways to protect our urban centres from future earthquake disasters
- an excellent state of the art on seismic isolation, rightly identified by the authors as ‘an idea whose time has come’.
However, as well as being a practical guide to design, the book is also a valuable reference work, offering excellent bibliographies on all the major topics, and valuable suggestions for follow-up study where needed. For these reasons and many more this book will be appreciated – and enjoyed – by all those who have responsibility for the design, construction and maintenance of buildings in earthquake areas, both in the European area and worldwide.
Professor Robin Spence
President, European Association for Earthquake Engineering
Cambridge, July 2005
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