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earthquake resistant design, as currently practiced for most structures,
certain levels of performance are implied. These are the ability of the
structure to resist minor earthquakes with no damage; moderate earthquakes
with minor damage; major earthquakes with significant damage but minor risk
to life safety; and the most severe earthquakes without collapse. The goal
of performance based design is to make the level of performance more explicit,
in order to provide better risk management and to give owners more choice.
The concepts of performance based design are well established (see, for example, the SEAOC Vision 200 report). Methods for its implementation have been specified in the ATC 40, FEMA 273, FEMA 356 reports and the ASCE 41 standard. In many respects these methods are not too different from conventional design methods. However, they also allow methods of structural analysis and performance evaluation that are very different from conventional methods. In particular, they allow the use of nonlinear structural analysis, together with deformation-based design criteria. Nonlinear structural analysis is more complex than linear analysis. However, with modern computer software such as CSI PERFORM 3D, it is feasible to use nonlinear dynamic analysis for the design of large structures, leading to better and more reliable performance, often at lower cost. The current methods for performance based design account rationally for different levels of performance, but do not explicitly calculate risk probabilities. Ongoing research, especially at the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER), is setting the stage for future methods that will explicitly calculate risk. In the future, computer software such as PERFORM 3D will incorporate these more advanced methods. The seminar, Performance Based Design Using Nonlinear Analysis, focuses on the use of nonlinear structural analysis for performance based design. There are two key aspects, namely (1) modeling for nonlinear analysis and (2) performance evaluation using a combination of deformation-based and strength-based criteria. The seminar covers these topics in depth, for both frame and shear wall structures. For engineers who are familiar with performance based design concepts, the seminar provides detailed information on practical modeling and performance evaluation. For engineers who are not familiar with the concepts, the first session of the seminar provides a clear overview of the present state-of-the-art. To use a program such as PERFORM 3D it is not necessary to know much about the computational details of nonlinear analysis. However, for engineers who are interested in those details, the fourth session covers them in some depth. Register now for the one-day seminar, Performance Based Design Using Nonlinear Analysis, Sept. 14, Westin Los Angeles Airport. Click here for details.
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