Seismic Analysis and Design for Wine Barrel Storage Racks

The current wine industry standard of stacking four to five barrels tall is unstable during an earthquake strong ground motion event. Based on the damages observed from the 2014 South Napa earthquake, shows that barrels stacked four or five high were unstable due to failure from sliding and overturning. Seismic mitigation to current wine barrel stacking practice is not common in the wine industry. In this paper, an analysis of a moment frame steel structure to restrain the barrels was conducted using the equivalent lateral force procedure outlined in ASCE 7-10 Chapters 12 and 15. The linear time-history analysis procedure outlined in ASCE 7-10 Chapter 16 was also examined. Seven ground motions were used for the time-history analysis, including the 2014 South Napa earthquake. The barrels supporting structure is designed in accordance with both design procedures and results were compared. This paper presents an engineered solution to mitigate the economic loss due to seismic ground motions in the wine industry, create a safer work environment and to bring additional awareness to the hazard.