] [Thread] [Date] [Author]

["Dennis Wish" <dennis.wish(--nospam--at)verizon.net>]

I do stand corrected on this. I too verified this and in the process of
revising my comments failed to change the Ss and S1 to Sds and Sd1 values
that are dependent on Fa and Fv which are dependent on the Soil
Classification Type. I still give the program credit for being able to
simplify the basic information that I have made errors on in the USGS
software. The USGS software as I mentioned, defaults the soil classification
as 'B' which defaults Fa and Fv to equal 1.0. The user needs to change the
Soil Classification in the USGS software which is not intuitive because of
the need for the user to change the soil type that is prevalent on your
site. 

I do stand corrected - thanks for pointing this out.

Dennis  

-----Original Message-----
From: xmy987 [mailto:xmy987(--nospam--at)gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 8:01 AM
To: seaint(--nospam--at)seaint.org
Subject: RE: www.seismicfactor.com

Dennis,

The site does determine Ss and S1 based on latitude and longitude. If you
test it against the values obtained from USGS for specific latitude and
longitude, you will find that they are IDENTICAL.

I verified with the author then when the user enters the address, the
website will automatically get the latitude and longitude, it will then use
this latitude and longitude to look up Ss and S1 for that specific site. I
tested this on many projects against what is given by USGS and they are
identical. Latitude and longitude determined by the site are exactly that of
Google maps.


Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Wish [mailto:dennis.wish(--nospam--at)verizon.net] 
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 3:26 PM
To: seaint(--nospam--at)seaint.org
Subject: RE: www.seismicfactor.com

Bill,
The site does not actually determine the actual Ss and S1 values from the
address input or the zip code. It is nice in the sense that it calculate or
looks-up the Site latitude and Longitude based on the actual address give
(even without entering the Zip code), but it does not determine the Site
Class (nor does the USGS software). Bother require the user to input the
Site Class and Occupancy Category.

The fault in the web tool is that it does not automatically tell the user if
he or she has exceeded the allowable building height limits since it appears
that the tool is intended to be restricted to two family or less
light-framed residential. If the user inputs a height of 650 feet, it will
calculate the Approximate Fundamental Period, but will not warn the user
that the building height he or she entered is not permitted under the
provisions of table 12.2-1 and for other conditions the user needs to
consider the Overstrength Factors as well as the redundancy factor that
changes when less than 35% of the base shear is distributed to any diaphragm
level.

The problem with tools like this is not so much the author, but the user who
will accept the results without verification or understanding of the code
methods. Yes, there are other requirements that must be considered and at
the very least, the author should have entered the appropriate boiler plate
or performed sufficient beta testing.

The USGS software is specific to the site conditions and does not calculate
the minimum base shear. This program should probably have stopped at the
same results that the USGS software produces since it goes one step better
than the USGS software. The USGS software defaults to a soil classification
of type B. The user has to remember to increase the Soil Class to a minimum
of 'D' depending on the site location or geotechnical report. If the tool
wants to go further than this, then the author should be warning the user to
verify the results and to take responsibility for the output being adequate
or accurate for the site that he or she is working with. This holds true of
most software out there.

I'm not attempting to disparage the software because the ability to input
the address and have it determine the accurate Ss, S1, Fa, Fv, Sds, Sd1, Sms
and Sm1 is still worthwhile and a time saver. I'm curious as I would like to
be able to learn how to institute something like this into my spreadsheet
which requires the user to use a secondary (albeit free) tool such as the
USGS Java software and Google Earth.

>From a learning perspective, it would be a value to the professional
community as long as it is clear that the program may produce inaccurate
results when limits are exceeded. I am never one who would discourage anyone
who is willing to share his education on creating tools that we can use to
assist our work.

There is not one software on the market that I would use without questioning
or testing the accuracy. This is our responsibility as a professional
community and the majority of boiler plates on the best software out there
warns the user of potential bugs or inaccurate results if input limits are
not clearly understood. 

Dennis
  

-----Original Message-----
From: xmy987 [mailto:xmy987(--nospam--at)gmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 11:24 AM
To: seaint(--nospam--at)seaint.org
Subject: RE: www.seismicfactor.com

Actually Gordon, www.seismicfactor.com does not use the zip code average. It
is obtains specific Ss and S1 based on the actual address. I know many
programs out there use the zip code average which can result in seismic
coefficients being off by as much as 40 percent. I use it regularly and
found it quite reliable and saves me quite a few steps.

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Goodell [mailto:GordonGoodell(--nospam--at)harmonydesigninc.com] 
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 10:56 AM
To: seaint(--nospam--at)seaint.org
Subject: RE: www.seismicfactor.com

Exactly what I was looking for.  Thank you.

Gordon



<<I map the address in Google Maps to get the lat/lon.  Then I use the
USGS tool to get the design values.

You can get it here:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/hazmaps/design/index.php

Chris>>




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