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Performancebasedseismicdesignofstructure:Areview
DalalSejalP1 ,VasanwalaSA2,DesaiAK3
1 ResearchScholar,AppliedMechanicsDepartment,SVNIT,Surat,Gujarat,India.
2 AssociateProfessor,AppliedMechanicsDepartment,SVNIT,Surat,Gujarat,India
3 Head,AppliedMechanicsDepartment,SVNIT,Surat,Gujarat,India
sejal_purvang@yahoo.co.in
ABSTRACT
Presented in this paper is an updated literature review of the Performancebased Seismic
design(PBSD)method.PerformancebasedSeismicdesignisanelasticdesignmethodology
done on the probable performance of the building under different ground motions. The
derivative of the PBSD method, known as the Performancebased Plastic design (PBPD)
methodthathasbeenwidelyrecognizedasanidealmethodforuseinthefuturepracticeof
seismic design has also been reviewed and discussed. Performancebased Plastic design
methodisadirectdesignmethodstartingfromtheprequantifiedperformanceobjectives,in
which plastic design is performed todetail the frame members and connections in order to
achievetheintendedyieldmechanismandbehavior.Thefindingsshowthatahugescopeof
researchworkisneededfordevelopmentofPBPDmethodforothertypeofstructures.
Keywords: Performance Based Seismic Design, Performance Based Plastic Design,
Performanceobjectives,SeismicEvaluation.
1Introduction
Intherecentmajorearthquakes,itisnoticedthattheseismicriskinurbanareasisincreasing
and the infrastructure facility is far from socioeconomically acceptable levels. There is an
urgentneedtoreversethissituationanditisbelievedthatoneofthemostpromisingwaysof
doing this is through the PerformanceBased Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) in which the
structuraldesignisbasedonthepredictedperformanceofthestructureduringanearthquake.
The PerformanceBased Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) also known as the Performance
BasedSeismicEngineering(PBSE)isarapidlygrowingideathatispresentinallguidelines
that were recently published: Vision 2000 (SEAOC, 1995), ATC40 (ATC, 1996), FEMA
273(FEMA,1997),andSAC/FEMA350(FEMA,2000a).
PBEE implies design, evaluation, construction, monitoring the function and maintenance of
engineered facilities whose performance under seismic loads responds to the diverse needs
and objectives of owners, users and society. In loose terms, it requires that a building be
designedtomeetspecificperformanceobjectivesundertheactionofthefrequentortherarer
seismiceventsthatitmayexperienceinitslifetime.So,abuildingwithalifetimeof50years
mayberequiredtosustainnodamagesunderafrequent,50%in50yearsevent,e.g.,one
that has a probability of 50% of being exceeded in the next 50 years. At the same time it
should be able to remain repairable, despite sustaining some damage, during a 10% in 50
years event and remain stable and lifesafe for rare events of 2% in 50 years, although,
subsequently,itmay havetobedemolished.Obviouslysuchperformanceobjectivescanbe
bettertailoredtoabuildingsfunction,e.g.,beingstricterforahospitalthatneedstoremain
operational even after severe events, while being more relaxed for less critical facilities,
flexible and able to suit each building owners needs (respecting a minimum of safety of
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course).Ageneralmethodologywasformulatedinanefforttoinvolveallthevariablesthat
may affect the performance, such as seismic hazard, damage measures, collapse, financial
lossesorlengthofdowntimeduetodamage,engineeringdemandssuchasstorydrifts,floor
accelerations, etc., (Krawinkler and Miranda, 2004). The performance evaluation of a
structureiscarriedoutbyusingcomplexprobabilisticformulasandthedesignworkproceeds
bygoingthroughseveraliterationsofthisprocess(Hamburger,2004).
The term PerformanceBased Seismic Design (PBSD) has been widely used by the
engineeringandresearchcommunitysincethe1994NorthridgeEarthquake,perhapsthemost
costly earthquake in U.S. history, and other major earthquakes around the world which
occurred at the end of the 20th century. This PBSD of buildings has been practiced since
earlyinthetwentiethcentury,England,NewZealand,andAustraliahadperformancebased
building codes in place for decades. The International Code Council (ICC) in the United
Stateshadaperformancecodeavailableforvoluntaryadoptionsince2001(ICC,2001).The
InterJurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee (IRCC) is an international group
representing the lead building regulatory organizations of 10 countries formed to facilitate
internationaldiscussionofperformancebasedregulatorysystemswithafocusonidentifying
public policies, regulatory infrastructure, education, and technology issues related to
implementingandmanagingthesesystems.
In 1989, the FEMAfunded project was launched todevelop formal engineering guidelines
forretrofitofexistingbuildingsstarted,ATC,1989),itwasrecommendedthattherulesand
guidelines be sufficiently flexible to accommodate a much wider variety of local or even
buildingspecific seismic risk reduction policies than has been traditional for new building
construction.Theinitialdesigndocument,NEHRPGuidelinesfortheSeismicRehabilitation
of Existing Buildings, FEMA 273, therefore contained a range of formal performance
objectives that corresponded to specified levels of seismic shaking. The performance levels
were generalized with descriptions of overall damage states with titles of Operational,
ImmediateOccupancy,LifeSafety,andCollapse Prevention.These levelswere intendedto
identifylimitingperformancestatesimportanttoabroadrangeofstakeholdersbymeasuring:
theabilitytousethebuildingaftertheeventthetraditionalprotectionoflifesafetyprovided
by building codes and, in the worst case, the avoidance of collapse. Following the
Northridge event, the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC, 1995)
developed a PBSD process, known as Vision 2000, which was more generalized than that
containedinFEMA273butusedsimilarlydefinedperformanceobjectives.
Over the 10year period after publication of FEMA 273, its procedures were reviewed and
refinedandeventuallypublishedin2006asanAmericanSocietyofCivilEngineers(ASCE)
national standard Seismic Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings, ASCE 41. Although
intended for rehabilitation of existing buildings, the performance objectives and
accompanyingtechnicaldatain ASCE41respondedtothegeneralinterestinPBSDandhave
been used for the design of new buildings to achieve higher or more reliable performance
objectivesthanperceivedavailablefromprescriptivecodeprovisions.ASCE41isconsidered
torepresentthefirstgenerationofperformancebasedseismicdesignprocedures.

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2.ApplicationsandadvantagesofthePBSDmethod
In contrast to prescriptive design approaches, performancebased design provides a
systematicmethodologyforassessingtheperformancecapabilityofabuilding.Itcanbeused
to verify the equivalent performance of alternatives, deliver standard performance at a
reducedcost,orconfirmhigherperformanceneededforcriticalfacilities. Italsoestablishesa
vocabulary that facilitates meaningful discussion between stakeholders and design
professionalsonthedevelopmentandselectionofdesignoptions.Itprovidesaframeworkfor
determining what level of safety and what level of property protection, at what cost, are
acceptable to stakeholders based upon the specific needs of a project. Performancebased
seismicdesigncanbeusedto:
Design individual buildings with a higher level of confidence that the performance
intendedbypresentbuildingcodeswillbeachieved.
Designindividualbuildingsthatarecapableofmeetingtheperformanceintendedby
presentbuildingcodes,butwithlowerconstructioncosts.
Design individual buildings to achieve higher performance (and lower potential
losses)thanintendedbypresentbuildingcodes.
Assessthepotentialseismicperformanceofexistingstructuresandestimatepotential
lossesintheeventofaseismicevent.
Assess the potential performance of current prescriptive code requirements for new
buildings, and serve as the basis for improvements to codebased seismic design
criteriasothatfuturebuildingscanperformmoreconsistentlyandreliably.
Performancebased seismic design is bothefficient and effective to avoid future earthquake
losses. Further, the technology used to implement performancebased seismic design is
transferable, and can be adapted for use in performancebased design for other extreme
hazardsincludingfire,wind,flood,snow,blast,andterroristattack.
TheadvantagesofPBSDoverthemethodologiesusedinthecurrentseismicdesigncodeare
summarizedasbelow
1. Multilevel seismic hazards are considered with an emphasis on the transparency of
performanceobjectives.
2.Buildingperformanceisguaranteedthroughlimitedinelasticdeformationinaddition to
strengthandductility.
3. Seismic design is oriented by performance objectives interpreted by engineering
parametersasperformancecriteria.
4.Ananalyticalmethodthroughwhichthestructuralbehavior,particularlythenonlinear
behaviorisrationallyobtained.
5. The building will meet the prescribed performance objectives reliably with accepted
confidence.
6.Thedesignwillensuretheminimumlifecyclecost.
3.Designprocedure ofthePBSDmethodandevolutionofthePBPDmethod
Performancebased design begins with the selection of design criteria stated in the form of
one or more performance objectives. Once the performance objectives are set, a series of
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simulations(analysesofbuildingresponsetoloading)areperformedtoestimatetheprobable
performanceofthebuildingundervariousdesignevents.Inthecaseofextremeloading,as
would be imparted by a severe earthquake, simulations may be performed using nonlinear
analysis techniques. If the simulated performance meets or exceeds the performance
objectives,thedesigniscomplete.Ifnot,thedesignisrevisedinaniterativeprocessuntilthe
performance objectives are met. In some cases it may not be possible to meet the stated
objectiveatreasonablecost,inwhichcase,somerelaxationoftheoriginalobjectivesmaybe
appropriate.
Aftertheconceptualdesignphaseiscompleted,thenumericaldesignphase isproceededto
determine the structural detailing, which satisfy the prequantified performance objectives.
Preliminary designcanbeconductedthroughtwodifferentapproaches:
1. Traditional forcebased design method followed by the check of performance
objectivesand
2. Directdesignmethodstartingfromtheprequantifiedperformanceobjectives.
Theresultsobtainedby thedirectdesignmethodarebelievedtobeclosertothefinaldesign
andrequirelesscomputationaleffort.Thus,thisfindingleadstoevolutionofthePerformance
BasedPlasticDesign(PBPD)methodwhichisadirectdesignmethodthatusespreselected
target drift and yield mechanisms as key performance objectives that determine the degree
anddistributionofexpectedstructuraldamage.Itisbasedontheformulationsderivedfrom
the capacityspectrum methodusing NewmarkHall reduction factors (Newmarkand Hall,
1982)fortheinelasticdemandspectrum.

TargetDrift

CapacityCurve

DemandCurve

Figure1: ProcurementoftheTargetDrift
Thedesignbaseshearforaspecifiedhazardleveliscalculatedbyequatingtheworkneeded
to push the structure monotonically up to the target drift to the energy required by an
equivalent EPSDOF to achieve the same state. Also, a new distribution of lateral design
forcesisusedthatisbasedonrelativedistributionofmaximumstoreyshearsconsistentwith
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inelasticdynamicresponseresults(Chaoetal.,2007).Plasticdesignisperformedtodetail
the frame members and connections in order to achieve the intended yield mechanism and
behavior. This targetdrift is obtained by intersecting the demand diagram and the capacity
diagram ofthe structure as shown in figure 1. And the Yield mechanism is chosen tobe a
plastichingeformationinthebeamsandatthebasecolumnasshowninfigure2.

Figure2:TheFormationofPlasticHingesfortheyieldmechanism
Results of extensive inelastic static and dynamic analyses have proven the validity of the
method (Goel and Leelataviwat, 2008). The method Comparisons of responses with
corresponding baseline frames designed by current practice have consistently shown
superiority of the proposed methodology in terms of achieving the desired behavior. The
method is especially advantageousfor tall frames, where cumbersome and lengthy iterative
design work in current practice can be completely eliminated, while leading to excellent
performanceastargeted.
Since the numerical phase of performancebased design is an iterative procedure between
designandverification,inordertosavecomputationaleffort,itissuggestedtoselectfewer
performanceobjectivesinthepreliminarydesignandcheckallperformanceobjectivesinthe
final design. The decision as to how many and which performance objectives need to be
selecteddependsonifthatperformanceobjectiveisthemainconcernoftheusersandowners
andifquantificationoftheperformanceacceptablelimitisreliable.
PBPDdesignhasbeensuccessfullyappliedtoSteelMomentResistingFrame(LeeandGoel,
2001),bucklingrestrainedbracedframe,EccentricallyBracedFrame(ChaoandGoel,2006),
Special Truss Moment Frame (Chao and Goel , 2008), concentric braced frames(Chao and
Goel ,2006) and composite buckling restrained braced frame(Dasgupta etal,2004). In all
cases, the frames developed the desired strong columnweak beam yield mechanisms as
intended,andthestoreydrifts/ductilitydemandswerewithintheselecteddesignvalues,thus
meetingtheselectedperformanceobjectives(Goeletal,2010).AdraftcodeforTaiwanhas
alsobeenrecentlydevelopedbyXue(Xueetal,2008)basedonthePBPDmethodofdesign
forimplementation.
PBPD design has also been applied to Reinforced Concrete Special Moment Structures by
Liao(LiaoandGoel,2010).DevelopmentofthePBPDmethodologyforReinforcedConcrete

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structures with degrading hysteretic behavior is currently in progress. Seismic design of

Reinforced Concrete structures to achieve targeted response presents special challenge
mainlyduetotheircomplex hystereticbehavior.Thisstudyisprimarilyanalyticalinnature
and focuses on Reinforced Concrete moment frames. It is expected that findings from this
study will be incorporated in the next generation of performancebased design codes and
practice.
4.SummaryandDiscussion
Several approaches for the PBSD method proposed by researchers have been briefly
reviewed in this paper and it is observed that more research work is needed especially for
developmentofPBPDmethodforvariousotherdifferenttypesofstructures.Itisimportant
tonotethatinthePBPDmethod,controlofdriftandyieldingisbuiltintothedesignprocess
fromtheverystart,eliminatingorminimizingtheneedforlengthyiterationstoarriveatthe
final design. Other advantages include the fact that innovative structural schemes can be
developed by selecting suitable yielding members and/or devices and placing them at
strategic locations, while the designated nonyielding members can be detailed for no or
minimumductilitycapacity.Allofthesewouldtranslate intoenhancedperformance,safety
andeconomyinlifecyclecosts.AsthePBPDacceptsdamageinseismicevents,andproves
tobethemosteconomicalsolution,andtheperformancecanbequantifiedandconfirmedto
the owners desires, it is quite possible that it can be misused by the owner for personal
profits.
ListofAbbreviations
ASCE
ATC
EPSDOF
FEMA
ICBO
ICC
NEHRP
PBEE
PBPD
PBSD
SEAOC
UBC

AmericanSocietyofCivilEngineers
AppliedTechnologyCouncil
ElastoPlasticSingleDegreeofFreedom
FederalEmergencyManagementAgency
InternationalConferenceofBuildingOfficials
InternationalCodeCouncil
NationalEarthquakeHazardReductionProgramme
PerformanceBasedEarthquakeEngineering
PerformanceBasedPlasticDesign
PerformancebasedSeismicdesign
StructuralEngineersAssociationofCalifornia
UniformBuildingCode

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