Seismicity and Seismic Design/Assessment in the State of Tennessee: A Case Study

Abstract

Tennessee has been known as The Volunteer State since the War of 1812 when thousands of Tennesseans enlisted in response to Governor Blount’s call for volunteers. Similarly, the state of Tennessee recently adopted the International Building Code, 2012 Edition, without amendments, expecting its exempt counties and cities to voluntarily follow suit. The seismic design sections in building codes have been one of the most controversial sections in code adoption and implementation with many voluntary adopters trying to amend seismic sections or eliminate them entirely. This is due to the lack of earthquake occurrences and the perceived cost of seismic design, an ongoing problem in the central and eastern United States for at least the last 50 years. However, although not a technical paper, this paper discusses the history of seismicity and seismic design/assessment, i.e., earthquakes and earthquake engineering in Tennessee, even before seismic design was accepted and implemented in Tennessee building codes. The paper discusses many issues that have arisen when (1) determining the seismic hazard, (2) developing the seismic designs of new structures, systems, and components (building design issues), and (3) conducting seismic assessments of existing structures, systems, and components.