ASCE 7-05 Section 15.6.1 Earth Retaining Structures

[bjb]

This sections starts by saying that is applies to all earth retaining structures assigned to Seismic Design Category D, E, or F. It then goes on to say that lateral earth pressures due to earthquake ground motions shall be determined in accordance with Section 11.8.3 for Seismic Design Categories B, C, D, E, and F.

Do only earth retaining structures in design categories D, E, or F require seismic design, or is seismic design also requried for earth retaining structures in seismic design categories B and C?

According to Section 15.1.1, it seems that all earth retaining structures require seismic design, so I interpret ASCE 7-05 to require that earth retaining structures in any seismic design category to require a seismic design.

 

[PAstructural08]

I think that seismic design is required for design categories B, C, D, E, and F; even if it's just minimum loading. But the section you are referring to (15.6.1), states "This section applies to all earth retaining structures assigned to Seismic Design Category D, E, and F." So even though seismic design should be used for categories B and C; section 15.6.1 is only for categories D, E and F.

Hope this is helpful and hopefully there will be more posts to get more opinions. The codes can be interpreted in different ways.