A Comparison Between the New and the Old Versions of Jordan Seismic Code

Abstract

The study comes as a vital step to shed120 light upon the purport of the recently published version of Jordan Seismic code (JSC), and how the drawbacks of the old version are surpassed. The new JSC code oversteps the old provisions, in that input parameters now have pronounced and significant physical meanings. The study concludes that the conversion from service load to ultimate load calculations was clearly the most significant change. The new JSC code was based on UBC 97 code, but it was tuned to comply with building experiences and conditions existing in Jordan. The new JSC code gives V/W values that are lower by 40% to 50% than that of the old JSC code, depending on the period of the structure. The importance of this study was that it asserts the credibility of the new JSC code provisions in that they cope with the real structural response against seismic action, and that the ductility of the structure was directly proportional to its height. The current study tackles the static force procedure. To compare the outcomes in both versions in principle, the study focuses on Amman district. Nevertheless the conclusions hold on for all the regions in Jordan. The study also concludes that the recent JSC code gives far more realistic results than the previous version.