The design objectives in current building codes address life safety, contro
l damage in minor and moderate earthquakes, and prevent collapse in a major
earthquake. However, the actual reliability of the design in achieving the
objectives is not known. There is a general agreement among researchers an
d professionals that future seismic design needs to be based on achieving s
tated multiple performance objectives. Future seismic design practice will
be based on explicit performance criteria that can be quantified, consideri
ng multiple performance and hazard levels.
There are several challenges to be addressed before procedures for performa
nce-based design can be widely accepted. The development in performance-bas
ed design in seismic engineering will be directed towards the definition of
performance objectives, a general design methodology, issues of ground mot
ion modeling, and demand and capacity evaluations. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scienc
e Ltd. All rights reserved.