CEE 200 Seminar: Important Seismic Concepts

Speaker: Brent A. Maxfield, SE
Affiliation: Structural Engineer with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

UCLA Civil & Environmental Engineering Department
C&EE 200 Section 1 Seminar
EERI Friedman Family Visiting Professionals Lecture
Structural, Geotechnical and Civil Engineering Materials
Important Seismic Concepts
Brent A. Maxfield, SE
Structural Engineer with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Seismic engineering concepts can be difficult to grasp. This lecture will present many different seismic concepts
in a simple manner, with the goal of helping the attendees understand and retain the concepts. The lecture will
benefit both the undergraduate student who has not had any seismic classes as well as the graduate student
who has taken many seismic classes. A significant portion of the lecture will focus on earthquake ground motions,
laying the groundwork for the remaining concepts. This lecture will discuss topics such as: The difference between
magnitude and levels of shaking, why it is important to understand and discuss shaking rather than magnitude,
the uncertainty and range of earthquake shaking, the difference between probabilistic and deterministic
ground motions, how the code sets shaking levels, ductility and ductility demand, “R” values, expected building
performance for different levels of shaking, and “It’s all about the shake in the quake.”
A question and answer session will also be held with Mr. Maxfield following the lecture (Time and Location to be
announced).
Where: Engineering VI 134A
When: 12:00 – 12:50 PM, Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Brent A. Maxfield, S.E. has 35 years of experience in the field of structural and seismic engineering.
He has spent many years trying to build a bridge between structural engineering and
earthquake ground motions. He has written several articles on this topic, including articles in
Structure Magazine (Are You Communicating Seismic Concepts Correctly? March 2016) and
Modern Steel Construction (Let’s Talk Seismic, March 2018). He has also presented at the
NASCC Steel Conference. Brent graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Civil Engineering
from Brigham Young University and received a Master of Engineering Management from
the same university. Brent has been employed for 27 years as a structural engineer for The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where he has worked on projects across the United States and
around the world. He has reviewed projects and worked with structural engineers in Canada, Mexico, Europe,
Africa, Asia, South America, and other areas of the world. He is currently reviewing the engineering for the base
isolation and seismic upgrade of the historic Salt Lake Temple.
Brent is an active member of the EERI Utah Chapter and the Structural Engineers Association of Utah (SEAU)
and expends considerable effort to help promote earthquake awareness and preparedness to engineers and the
Utah community. He was instrumental in getting the Building Occupancy Resumption Program (BORP) adopted
in several cities in Utah. He was the EERI Chapter President and assisted the chapter in the publishing of
Scenario for a Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake on the Wasatch Fault – Salt Lake City Segment, Hazards and Loss
Estimates in 2015. In 2012, Brent was awarded the Utah Engineer of the Year by the Utah Engineers Council.
Brent has written three books on the use and application of PTC Mathcad.

Date/Time:
Date(s) - Feb 04, 2020
12:00 pm - 12:50 pm

Location:
Cohen Room 134, Engineering VI Building
404 Westwood Blvd Los Angeles California 90095
Map Unavailable