A method for earthquake motion - damage relationships with application to reinforced concrete frames

ABSTRACT

This study presents a systematic approach for developing motion-damage relationships that does not rely either on heuristics or on empirical data. Instead, the probability of damage is estimated by quantifying the response of structure subjected to a significant ensemble of ground motions with a wide range of parameter variations. The quantification of the structural response also includes the variability in structural parameters. For this purpose, a Monte Carlo simulation approach is used to determine the probabilities of structural damage, and the ensemble of ground motions is generated using an appropriate model for ground motion simulation. The models for ground motion simulation include the stationary Gaussian model with modulating funtions and the autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models. The Latin hypercube technique is used to increase the efficiency of the Monte Carlo simulation.(AU)