ABSTRACT
This paper develops a displacement-based design approach for moment-resisting frame structures in which the stiffness and strength requirements of the structure are based on a specified maximum permissible drift when the structure is subjected to a seismic demand specified as a displacement spectrum. In order to provide a simple relationship between drift and the spectral displacement, the frame is modelled as a shear beam.
The approach is applied to the design of a six-storey reinforced concrete frame building located in a region of moderate seismic hazard, i.e. Vancouver, B.C. The same building is also designed by the conventional quasistatic seismic loading approach as specified in the 1995 edition of the National Building Code of Canada. The performance of these frames are determined using inelastic pushover analyses and inelastic dynamic analyses using time-histories selected to simulate the seismic hazard at this location.
