ATC-13-1

Commentary on the Use of ATC-13 Earthquake

Damage Evaluation Data for Probable Maximum
Loss Studies of California Buildings

by
APPLIED TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL
201 Redwood Shores Parkway, Suite 240
Redwood City, California 94065
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.atcouncil.org

Prepared for ATC by

STEPHANIE A. KING
Weidlinger Associates, Inc.
Los Altos, California

PROJECT MANAGER
Christopher Rojahn

PROJECT ENGINEERING PANEL

Patrick Buscovich* Stephen H. Pelham
Jeff Coronado Lawrence D. Reaveley
Anne S. Kiremidjian Richard J. Roth, Jr.

*ATC Board Representative

2002
 Preface
In 1985 the Applied Technology Council (ATC) panies that provide earthquake insurance for
completed and published the ATC-13 report, dwellings and commercial buildings.
Earthquake Damage Evaluation Data for Califor- While never intended for use in estimating the
nia. Funded by the Federal Emergency Manage- expected performance of individual buildings or
ment Agency (FEMA), the ATC-13 report was structures, the ATC-13 methodology and data
developed to provide expert-opinion earthquake have also been used by practicing structural engi-
damage and loss methodology and data for use in neering professionals to estimate the probable
estimating local, regional, and national economic maximum loss (PML) of individual structures for
impacts from earthquakes in California. The insurance and investment decisions. The wide-
ATC-13 report includes: (1) expert-opinion mo- spread use of ATC-13 for PML studies prompted a
tion-damage relationships, presented in the form decision by the ATC Board of Directors to de-
of damage probability matrices, for 78 classes of velop this Commentary, the purpose of which is to
structures, including buildings (40 classes) and enable users of the ATC-13 report to understand
lifeline structures (electrical, water, sanitary sewer, how these data were developed, the limitations of
natural gas and telephone components and sys- the data, and issues associated with using the data
tems); (2) methods and data for estimating damage for PML studies.
and loss resulting from collateral hazards, includ- The main body of this Commentary contains a
ing fault rupture, ground failure, inundation, and discussion of the scope and results of the ATC-13
fire; (3) estimates of the time required to restore project, a description of the most common type of
damaged buildings and lifeline structures to their PML study, a discussion and some examples of
pre-earthquake functionality; (4) inventory meth- how ATC-13 is typically used as a basis for a
odology to estimate the type, distribution, and PML study, and recommended improvements to
number of man-made facilities throughout Cali- the ATC-13 data. Also included are three appen-
fornia; and (5) methodology and data for estimat- dices containing information and data not included
ing deaths and injuries. in the original ATC-13 report (ATC, 1985):
The ATC-13 data and methodology were ex- (1) ATC-13 model building type descriptions, in-
plicitly developed for evaluating the expected per- cluding methodology for estimating the expected
formance of average California construction. The performance of standard, nonstandard, and special
report explicitly states that “the damage estimation construction; (2) ATC-13 Beta damage distribu-
procedures set forth in this report are most appli- tion parameters for model building types; and
cable for a statistically large number of facilities (3) PML values for ATC-13 model building types.
and should not be applied to individual facilities ATC gratefully acknowledges the profession-
directly” (ATC, 1985, p. 307). als who made this publication possible. Stephanie
Since publication in 1985, the ATC-13 earth- A. King, a seismic risk analysis specialist from
quake damage and loss estimation methodology Northern California, is the principal report author.
and data have been widely used for a variety of Overview and guidance were provided by a Pro-
purposes, including (1) ranking the seismic vul- ject Engineering Panel consisting of Patrick Bus-
nerability of California buildings for hazard covich, Jeff Coronado, Anne Kiremidjian, Law-
evaluation and mitigation decision making (e.g., as rence Reaveley, and Richard Roth, Jr. Independ-
in the case of selecting buildings to be instru- ent reviews were also provided by Ronald Ham-
mented under the California Strong-Motion In- burger and Andrew Merovich. The affiliations of
strumentation Program); (2) developing a scoring these individuals are provided in the list of project
system for rapid visual screening of buildings for participants.
potential seismic hazards (as in the case of the The report was funded by ATC’s Henry J. De-
FEMA 154 report, Rapid Visual Screening of genkolb Memorial Endowment Fund.
Buildings for Potential Seismic Hazards: A
Handbook (first edition); (3) classifying buildings Christopher Rojahn
and other structures by their earthquake resisting ATC Executive Director
characteristics; and (4) portfolio analysis by com-

ATC-13-1 Preface iii

 Contents

Preface................................................................................................................................................................ iii

List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................... vii

List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................................ix

1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................1
2. Development of ATC-13 ........................................................................................................................3
2.1 Historical Background on ATC-13............................................................................................3
2.2 Description of Model Building Types .......................................................................................3
2.3 Development of Damage Probability Matrices..........................................................................5

3. Probable Maximum Loss (PML) ............................................................................................................9

3.1 Most Common Definition of PML ............................................................................................9

4. PML Analysis Based on ATC-13 .........................................................................................................11

4.1 Method ....................................................................................................................................11
4.2 Examples..................................................................................................................................13
4.2.1 Example 1: Wood-Frame Single-Family Dwelling ...................................................13
4.2.2 Example 2: Steel Moment-Resisting Distributed-Frame High-Rise Building...........13
4.2.3 Example 3: Moment-Resisting Non-Ductile Concrete-Frame Mid-Rise Building....14

5. Concluding Remarks.............................................................................................................................15

Appendix A: ATC-13 Model Building Type Descriptions................................................................................17

A.1 Wood Frame Construction (ATC-13 Facility Class 1) ............................................................17
A.2 Light Metal Construction (ATC-13 Facility Class 2) ..............................................................17
A.3 Unreinforced Masonry Bearing Wall Construction (ATC-13 Facility Class 75, 76) ..............18
A.4 Unreinforced Masonry with Load Bearing Frame (ATC-13 Facility Class 78, 79, 80) ..........18
A.5 Reinforced Concrete Shear Wall with Moment-Resisting Frame (ATC-13 Facility
Class 3, 4, 5) ............................................................................................................................19
A.6 Reinforced Concrete Shear Wall without Moment-Resisting Frame (ATC-13 Facility
Class 6, 7, 8) ............................................................................................................................19
A.7 Reinforced Masonry Shear Wall with Moment-Resisting Frame (ATC-13 Facility
Class 84, 85, 86) ......................................................................................................................19
A.8 Reinforced Masonry Shear Wall without Moment-Resisting Frame (ATC-13 Facility
Class 9, 10, 11) ........................................................................................................................20
A.9 Braced Steel Frame (ATC-13 Facility Class 12, 13, 14) .........................................................20
A.10 Moment Resisting Steel Perimeter Frame (ATC-13 Facility Class 15, 16, 17).......................20
A.11 Moment Resisting Steel Distributed Frame (ATC-13 Facility Class 72, 73, 74) ....................21
A.12 Moment Resisting Ductile Concrete Frame (ATC-13 Facility Class 18, 19, 20) ....................21
A.13 Moment Resisting Non-Ductile Concrete Frame (ATC-13 Facility Class 87, 88, 89)............22
A.14 Precast Concrete Construction (ATC-13 Facility Class 81, 82, 83) ........................................22
A.15 Long Span Construction (ATC-13 Facility Class 91)..............................................................22
A.16 Tilt-Up Construction (ATC-13 Facility Class 21) ...................................................................23
A.17 Mobile Homes (ATC-13 Facility Class 23).............................................................................23

Appendix B: ATC-13 Beta Damage Distribution Parameters for Model Building Types ................................25

ATC-13-1 Contents v
Appendix C: PML Values for ATC-13 Model Building Types ........................................................................ 35

References and Acronym List ........................................................................................................................... 45

Project Participants............................................................................................................................................ 47

Applied Technology Council Projects and Report Information ........................................................................ 49

Applied Technology Council Directors............................................................................................................. 65

vi Contents ATC-13-1