Shelby Substation Seismic Strengthening

Shelby County, Tennessee

Performed seismic evaluation and developed seismic strengthening construction drawings for this 4,600 sq. ft. unreinforced masonry (URM) control house building in Shelby County, Tennessee. Located near Memphis, Tennessee, the site earthquake demands are expected to be very high, yet the seismic performance objective of Immediate Occupancy was needed. Creative strengthening measures were needed to allow construction of seismic strengthening while keeping the control house fully operational. As part of the project, new CMU shear walls on exterior of building were installed to avoid heavy construction activities inside the building. The building was successfully occupied by TVA without interruption during construction. Both structural and nonstructural systems were addressed to achieve Immediate Occupancy performance.