Seismic, Wind and Flood Resistant Design
ASHRAE Technical Committee 2.7

The ASHRAE Handbook is published in a series of four volumes, one of which is revised each year, ensuring that no volume is older than four years.  The Handbook can be purchased at the ASHRAE Bookstore by clicking on this link.

The TC is responsible for the following chapter in the HVAC Applications Volume:

Seismic- and Wind-Resistant Design
This chapter covers the design of restraints to limit equipment movement and to keep the equipment captive during an earthquake or extreme wind loading. Seismic restraints and isolators do not reduce the forces transmitted to the restrained equipment. Instead, properly designed and installed seismic restraints and isolators have the necessary strength to withstand the imposed forces. However, equipment that is to be restrained must also have the necessary strength to remain attached to the restraint.

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Technical committees develop and sponsor technical sessions at the winter and annual conferences. Information about their future technical program is discussed at each TC meeting and at the TC’s Program Subcommittee meeting

ASHRAE publishes papers and transactions from presentations at its conference events. In addition, ASHRAE records most of the seminar sessions from its conferences on DVD. These DVDs are ideal for use at chapter meetings, in university courses, or company lunch and learns. Products available from the most recent conference may be found here.

Technical Committees are responsible for identifying research topics, proposing research projects, selecting bidders, and monitoring research projects funded by ASHRAE. Information about their specific research program is discussed at each TC meeting and at the TC’s Research Subcommittee meeting.

RP 1323 - The specific objectives of the proposed research are: Determine force amplification (impact) factors for generic ASHRAE-Type isolators/restraints for different equipment types subjected to earthquake motions. Determine acceleration amplification factors for equipment hard mounted and/or supported on generic ASHRAE-Type isolators/restraints subjected to earthquake motions. This project used shaker table testing done on full size HVAC & R equipment with generic restraints where attributes such as rubber hardness, thickness and air gaps were varied for testing.

The following videos are from the testing for RP - 1323.
Chiller-1 is a video showing a complete chiller being tested on the shaker table.
Chiller-2 is a close-up video of one of the combination Isolator/Restraints during one of the tests.
AHU-1 is a video showing a complete Air Handling Unit being tested on the shaker table.

ASHRAE writes standards for the purpose of establishing consensus for: 1) methods of test for use in commerce and 2) performance criteria for use as facilitators with which to guide the industry. ASHRAE publishes the following three types of voluntary consensus standards: Method of Measurement or Test (MOT), Standard Design and Standard Practice. ASHRAE does not write rating standards unless a suitable rating standard will not otherwise be available. ASHRAE is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and follows ANSI's requirements for due process and standards development. Standards may be purchased at the ASHRAE Bookstore.

The TC is cognizant for the following standard.

ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 171: Method of Test of Seismic Restraint Devices for HVAC&R Equipment

Include other activities, such as MTG involvement, into this section.

ASHRAE Technical FAQs are provided as a service to ASHRAE members, users of ASHRAE publications, and the general public. While every effort has been made to ensure their accuracy and reliability, they are advisory and provided for informational purposes only, and in many cases represent only one person’s view. They are not intended and should not be relied on as an official statement of ASHRAE. Technical questions not addressed may be submitted to the ASHRAE Technical Services department at tse@ashrae.net.