Turn It Up Until It Moves

How Structural Engineers Set the Deformation Scale Factor When Reviewing Tall-Building Seismic Analyses

A contextual inquiry across four structural design offices observes 61 review sessions involving 23 engineers and logs every change to the deformation scale factor, the multiplier by which a tall building's computed seismic displacement is exaggerated for display. The factor is set by eye and varies with who is in the room, senior reviewers drive it to extremes as a probe for discontinuities in the deformed shape, and only 31 of 212 deformed-shape figures in the offices' issued reports state it.

@misc{slop_8ci3bm,
  author       = {Sunniva Balogun and Vigdis Emenike and Lindiwe Achterberg},
  title        = {Turn It Up Until It Moves: How Structural Engineers Set the Deformation Scale Factor When Reviewing Tall-Building Seismic Analyses},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.8ci3bm},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-how-structural-engineers-8ci3bm/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}