PERFORMANCE BASED EARTHQUAKE EVALUATION OF RC BUILDINGS

Conventional methods of seismic design have the objectives to provide for life safety and damage control. The design criteria are defined by limits on stresses and member forces calculated from prescribed levels of applied lateral shear force. In the current code design procedures, there are uncertainties concerning the seismic demand and seismic capacity of the structure. Performance-based design is a more general design philosophy in which the design criteria are expressed in terms of achieving stated performance objectives when the structure is subjected to stated levels of seismic hazard. To reduce the high costs associated with loss of use and repair of heavily damaged structures, different levels of performance objectives need to be considered. In effect, performance based-design is a powerful new approach that includes traditional methods of seismic design with significant upgrades. Non-linear static pushover analysis is one of the popular methods of predicting seismic force and deformation demand for the purpose of performance evaluation of exciting buildings and new buildings.