Innovation in earthquake resistant concrete structure design philosophies;a century of progress since Hennebique's patent

Earthquake resistant design has always been a challenge for innovators, par tly because the loads are not deterministic, with large magnitudes at extre mely low probabilities in the Gumbel distribution, and a consequent need to balance political criticism tomorrow with economic savings today. The pape r reviews some design philosophies that have been tried including one that uses end bearing plates to transfer reinforcing bar stresses to the surroun ding concrete in beams. This, in hindsight, is similar to the fish tail end details used in Mouchel's early designs. Although the reasoning is differe nt, it brings several strategies together and illustrates how technical inn ovations attempt to counter difficult problems. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science L td and Civil-Comp Ltd. All rights reserved.