Seismic retrofit of hospital uses fluid viscious dampers to absorb earthquake energy.
Protecting healthcare. The U.S. Navy needed to understand and mitigate the seismic risk of its Naval Hospital facility in Twentynine Palms, CA, so the healthcare staff can continue protecting the health of our nation’s protectors. Reid Middleton provided seismic evaluation of and seismic retrofit design for the three-story, 160,000 SF hospital facility at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. To mitigate seismic deficiencies, Reid Middleton studied two retrofit alternatives: fluid viscous dampers and wall dampers, both designed to absorb significant earthquake energy so the building isn’t damaged in an earthquake. The Navy chose the fluid viscous dampers, as the benefit of using wall dampers didn’t outweigh their added costs.
