In this paper, a global limit state function for load-carrying capacity of structural system is firstly set up, in which the margin of safety is the difference between the limit base shear of structural system and the total horizontal seismic action. To probabilistically assess the global seismic capacity of structure, a new point estimation method (PEM) for analyzing statistical moments of com...

In most of the designs of rigid structural frames, the analysis is carried out by assuming fixity at base, which means that the building is idealized to rest on hard rock. This paper discusses the importance of considering the effect of soil stiffness on the seismic performance of rigid structural frame system resting on it. Flexibility of soil causes lengthening of lateral natural period of th...

A performance-based design procedure for realistic 3D reinforced concrete (R/C) buildings is presented, that involves the use of advanced analytical tools. Depending on the building configuration, use of two alternative tools is suggested, i.e. either time-history analysis for appropriately scaled input motions, or inelastic static (pushover) analysis, both for two different levels of earthquak...

The objective of this review to be submitted in two independent parts, for steel frames and for RC frames, is to compare their structural performance with respect to the proposed N2-method, and so also of the consequent convenience of using pushover methodology for the seismic analysis of these structures. A preliminary investigation is presented on a pushover analysis used for the seismic perf...

During the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, gymnasium buildings sustained unexpected structural damage, preventing their use as evacuation shelters. This study examines one such severely damaged structure with fewer connections between steel roof and reinforced concrete columns. Results of eigenvalue, pushover, seismic response analyses elucidate observed damage. The out-of-plane deformation is prominen...

Performance based seismic design (PBSD) is an alternative to code based approaches to design or evaluation of structures that fail to yield a more direct relationship between a seismic event and the corresponding structural performance of a building; this generally leads to over-conservatism. This paper presents a case study on the alternative procedures used in the performance based design of ...

The paper presents a numerical study for the seismic assessment of the St James Church in Christchurch, New Zealand affected by the recent 2011 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. The structural behavior of the Church has been evaluated using the finite element modelling technique, in which the nonlinear behavior of masonry has been taken into account by proper constitutive assumptions. Two ...

Presently, the modal pushover analysis procedure is extended to multidimensional analysis of structures subjected to multidimensional earthquake excitations. an improved multidimensional modal pushover analysis (IMMPA) method is presented in the paper in order to estimate the response demands of structures subjected to bidirectional earthquake excitations, in which the unidirectional earthquake...