Performance based seismic design (PBSD) is a cogent design approach that allows engineers to design structures with a predictable seismic performance for a specified level of hazard. In contrast to the conventional limit state or strength and serviceability based design in which a structure is designed to withstand severe load combinations and be functional under normal load conditions, PBSD go...

Revolutionary changes which have taken place in the USA over the past 50 years in earthquake engineering as applied to transportation structures (highway bridges, and transit and high-speed rail aerial structures) are reviewed, giving emphasis to seismic design criteria, characterization of seismic ground motions, dual strategy of seismic design, modelling and dynamic analysis, assessment of se...

This paper introduces a novel design concept for the development of efficient, sustainable Rocking-Wall Moment Frames (RWMFs) under seismic conditions. The proposed concepts lead to a novel structural configuration with provisions for Collapse Prevention (CP), Self-Centering (SC), reparability, performance control (PC), damage reduction, and energy based seismic analysis. It introduces the meri...

Performance-based seismic design (PBSD) method has been widely recognized in recent years, it can be used for the future structural design. And the direct displacement-based design method (DDBD) is one of the most effective ways to implement the performance-based seismic design (PBSD) theory in current. In this paper, aiming to the composite frame consisting of composite beams and continuous co...

Direct Displacement-Based Design (DDBD) is a performence-based seismic design method that has been proposed and well developed over the past two decades to design RC frame structures, shear walls and bridges. In this method, the behavior of a multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) sysytem is approximaeted by an equivalent single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) substitute structure. Although this method has be...

A quick group search optimizer (QGSO) is an intelligent optimization algorithm which has been applied in structural optimal design, including the hinged spatial structural system. The accuracy and convergence rate of QGSO are feasible to deal with a spatial structural system. In this paper, the QGSO algorithm optimization is adopted in seismic research of steel frames with semi-rigid connection...

Japan is in a seismically active area and experiences many damaging earthquakes with loss of life. In 1995, the Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake caused major destruction in Kobe City and in 2011 the Great Eastern Japan earthquake and tsunami caused major destruction in the Pacific coast areas of northeastern Japan. Additionally, recent relatively less destructive earthquakes include the 2003 Tokachi-O...

Displacement-based methods are recognized as appropriate approaches to reach the goals of performance-based seismic design method. In the direct displacement-based seismic design method, the seismic yield displacement is applied as one of the important design parameters. In this paper, a new relation is suggested to determine the lateral displacement pattern at first yielding of eccentrically b...

Taiwan is located on the Pacific seismic belt, and the soil conditions of Taiwan’s offshore wind farms are softer than those in Europe. To ensure safety and stability of the offshore wind turbine supporting structures, it is important to assess the offshore wind farms seismic forces reasonably. In this paper, the relevant seismic and geological data are obtained for Chang-Bin offshore wind farm...

The unanticipated brittle fracture of connection of the steel moment resisting frame (SMRF) occurred in 1994 the Northridge earthquake. Since then, the researches for the vulnerability of connection of the existing SMRF and for rehabilitation of those buildings were conducted. This paper suggests performance-based optimal seismic retrofit technique using connection upgrade. For optimal design, ...