A report on the seismic capacity of the General Laboratory and Administration Building at Los Alamos National Laboratory

A seismic analysis of the General Laboratory and Administration Building at Los Alamos National Laboratory is performed. The analyses are performed in detail for one portion of the building and then qualitatively extrapolated to other portions of the building. Seismic capacities are evaluated based on two sets of acceptance criteria. The first is based on Code-type criteria and is associated with a low probability of failure. This capacity is found to be in the 0.04--0.06 G ZPA range (the free field seismic motion is defined with a NUREG 0098 response spectrum). The second capacity is based on much less conservative criteria such as might be associated with a high probability of failure. This capacity is found to be about 0.15 G. Finally structural modifications are proposed that would increase the low probability of failure capacity to 0.15 G ZPA. These modifications consist of steel double angle braces or concrete shear walls placed at some of the frames in the building