smacna seismic restraint manual
 

smacna seismic restraint manual
we are a small consulting firm in a low seismic area. when we work on a hospital or firehouse in an occupancy category 4 we get in to dealing with seismic or braced ductwork and piping per asce chapter 13 "seismic design requirements for nonstructural components".
we orderd ashrae/smacna's seismic restraint cd-rom which contains several different design guides. the smacna seismic restraint manual, second edition with the september 2000 addendum provides a system of shl's seismic hazzard levels and design tables outlining the necessary bracing requirements. assumedly in this system a mechanical contractor, can find the shl given in the plans and detail the bracing of the supports per the manual.
i have some questions and would also appreciate general feedback regarding providing seismic bracing supports for ductwork and piping in low seismic areas:
1) does anyone still use the smacna seismic restraint manual to provide seismic detailing requirements for piping and ductwork, etc? i have not seen a more updated version of the manual. i am not sure if the mechanical contractors around here would necesarrily know what to do either if we gave them that information.
thanks
for the information and discussion