ABSTRACT
Traditionally, earthquake engineering has focused on protecting the lives of building occupants. Conventional seismic force resisting systems use inelasticity in structural members and connections to dissipate seismic energy and provide protection against collapse. A consequence of this design methodology is that conventional seismic systems do not explicitly limit the amount of structural damage, or offer a repair method that allows continued use of a structure after an earthquake. In fact, the structural damage distributed throughout a building and permanent residual drifts can make a conventional structure difficult if not financially unreasonable to repair after a large earthquake.
