Seismic Stabilization of Historic Adobe Structures

This book describes tests performed on model adobe buildings used to evaluate seismic damage mitigation techniques applicable to the retrofitting of historic and culturally significant adobe structures. Part of the Getty Seismic Adobe Project (GSAP), the three-year program outlined in this volume was designed to develop and test minimally invasive, inexpensive, and easily implemented methods of protecting such structures from severe earthquake damage. The authors identify typical failure modes of adobe structures and describe specific retrofit techniques to help minimize such failures. Extensive photographic documentation is included.

E. Leroy Tolles is a structural engineer with ELT & Associates and was principal investigator for GSAP. Edna E. Kimbro is an architectural conservator and historian specializing in the preservation of Hispanic-era buildings and material culture. Frederick A. Webster is a civil engineer who specializes in design, repair, and retrofitting of historic buildings. William S. Ginell is a senior conservation research scientist at the Getty Conservation Institute and was project director of GSAP. Tolles, Webster, and Kimbro are coauthors, with Anthony Crosby, of Survey of Damage to Historic Adobe Buildings after the January 1994 Northridge Earthquake.