Structural engineers Carlos Peña, Cristian Urzúa, Miguel Medalla, and Ramón Montecinos talked about the Chilean code NCh. 2369 “Earthquake-resistant design of industrial structures and facilities”. The event, moderated by Prof. Rodrigo Astroza, gathered more than 250 attendees from Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico.

In the first presentation, engineers Ramón Montecinos and Carlos Peña gave a historic overview on the devolpment of the Chilean engineering practice in industrial facilities and then provided details about major proposed modifications for the Chilean code NCh2369.

Cristian Urzúa focused on steel structures, highlihghting the observed damage during the 2010 Mw=8.8 Maule earthquake and the effects of the modifications proposed in the NCh2369 for this type of styuctures. Following a similar approach, Carlos Peña discussed about the seismic behavior of port wharf structures. Finally, Miguel Medalla presented a performance-based approach to explain the expected behavior of concentrically braced frames.