Abstract
A simple procedure to estimate drift and ductility demands of regular steel frame buildings subjected to ordinary (i.e., without near fault effects) ground motions is described. Given the strength reduction (or behavior) factor, the procedure provides reliable estimates of the maximum roof displacement, the maximum interstorey drift ratio and the maximum rotation ductility along the height of the structure. The strength reduction factor refers to the point of the development of the first plastic hinge in the building and thus, pushover analysis and estimation of the overstrength factor are not required. This important feature enables both the rapid seismic assessment of existing structures and the direct deformation-controlled seismic design of new ones. The derivation of the proposed relations is based on regression analysis of the results of thousands of nonlinear time history analyses of steel frames. A comparison of the proposed method with the procedures adopted in current seismic design codes reveals the efficiency of the former.
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