Simplified procedure for seismic demands assessment of structures

Abstract

Methods for the seismic demands evaluation of structures require iterative procedures. Many studies dealt with the development of different inelastic spectra with the aim to simplify the evaluation of inelastic deformations and performance of structures. Recently, the concept of inelastic spectra has been adopted in the global scheme of the Performance-Based Seismic Design (PBSD) through Capacity-Spectrum Method (CSM). For instance, the Modal Pushover Analysis (MPA) has been proved to provide accurate results for inelastic buildings to a similar degree of accuracy than the Response Spectrum Analysis (RSA) in estimating peak response for elastic buildings. In this paper, a simplified nonlinear procedure for evaluation of the seismic demand of structures is proposed with its applicability to multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) systems. The basic concept is to write the equation of motion of (MDOF) system into series of normal modes based on an inelastic modal decomposition in terms of ductility factor. The accuracy of the proposed procedure is verified against the Nonlinear Time History Analysis (NL-THA) results and Uncoupled Modal Response History Analysis (UMRHA) of a 9-story steel building subjected to El-Centro 1940 (N/S) as a first application. The comparison shows that the new theoretical approach is capable to provide accurate peak response with those obtained when using the NL-THA analysis. After that, a simplified nonlinear spectral analysis is proposed and illustrated by examples in order to describe inelastic response spectra and to relate it to the capacity curve (Pushover curve) by a new parameter of control, called normalized yield strength coefficient (). In the second application, the proposed procedure is verified against the NL-THA analysis results of two buildings for 80 selected real ground motions.