Codes

A commitment to research and development has kept Rutherford & Chekene at the forefront of structural and seismic engineering for five decades. Our experts contribute to the development of building codes, standards and guidelines through the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC), National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC), International Code Council (ICC), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Concrete Institute (ACI), and American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). Working with these organizations, R&C's engineers have changed how modern structural design challenges are met. Some of R&C’s recent contributions are listed below.

  • William Holmes, Mark Saunders and Joe Maffei have been active members of the committees that produce the NEHRP Recommended Provisions for Seismic Regulations for New Buildings and Other Structures. This document forms the basis for seismic design provisions in ASCE/SEI 7 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures and the International Building Code (IBC). Holmes also served as chair of the NEHRP Provisions Update Committee.
  • Dominic Campi serves on the Lateral Force Subcommittee of ASCE 7. From 1995 to 1997, he served on the SEAOC Seismology Committee, which authored the SEAOC Blue Book’s seismic provisions. These provisions are the basis for the 1997 Uniform Building Code’s (UBC) seismic provisions.
  • Mark Saunders serves as vice chair of the AISC Task Committee 9, which authors AISC Seismic Provisions for Structural Steel Buildings. Walterio López serves as a Corresponding Member on this committee. He also co-authored "Seismic Design of Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames," which was published in Steel TIPS. López recently received the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award from AISC for his work on this paper. This technology was later introduced into the AISC Seismic Provisions.
  • Bret Lizundia was an author and the editor for SEAOC’s Recommended Guidelines for the Practice of Structural Engineering in California.
  • Joe Maffei is a member of ACI Committee 318H. The committee develops seismic provisions for the ACI 318Concrete Building Code, which is adopted by the UBC and IBC.