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By taking a performance-based engineering approach on the Pier 54 project, the GeoEngineers team was able to model the interaction between both wood and steel piles with the potentially liquefiable soil in which they would be anchored. -
Construction on ground improvements at Port of Portland’s Terminal 6, where our team used a PBE approach to maximize limited resources. -
The OPEN CELL Cofferdam during excavation for the 17th Street Canal Pump Station. Photo courtesy of PCCP. -
Using a PBE approach, GeoEngineers retrofitted many of the aging wood trestles throughout the Washington State Ferry System.
Performance-Based Engineering
Improving safety and maximizing investment with a cutting-edge approach to engineering design
Performance-based engineering (PBE) is an alternative approach to absolute factor-of-safety engineering standards. Using complex analytical software, PBE evaluates the reliability of a design by modeling a variety of real-world loads and conditions a structure is expected to face.
PBE can be especially valuable when working with soft ground and in seismically active regions. In these more complex conditions, conventional force-based and factor-of-safety analysis approaches often aren’t adequate to develop a design that performs satisfactorily.
No prediction can be perfect, and PBE is probabilistic, but by predicting a structure’s performance before it is built, we can evaluate risk factors over a structure’s entire life cycle and incorporate the consequences of various types of structural failure. This information helps owners meet regulatory requirements and prioritize investment where the need is greatest.
With a grounding in these advanced design approaches and methods, we are helping make the next wave of infrastructure built in the United States and around the world more resilient, affordable and safe.
Advantages of PBE
- Prioritize investments by modeling behavior prior to construction.
- More reliable prediction of the intended seismic performance.
- Validate novel construction approaches or structural systems.
- Accommodate unique architectural or environmental features that might not fit in a standard design.
