Performance-based seismic design of buildings

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The building codes in Canada and elsewhere are traditionally prescriptive in nature. A prescriptive code is one that specifies the design solutions and construction requirements according to particular materials and methods, rather than to performance criteria. As a result, the design process becomes highly regulated and complex. Performance Based Design (PBD) format has been evolving as an alternative to the current practice. PBD is expected to offer a more flexible framework for design to ensure safety and performance, and foster innovation in design by allowing the application of any acceptable and verifiable solution to achieve a given level of performance. The new edition of the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC 2005) has made some progress in that direction and provided an objective-based format for design. However, the full framework for PBD of buildings is not yet available. The proposed research focuses on the performance-based seismic design (PBSD) of buildings. PBSD generally defines the target performance in terms of displacement and damage under specified levels of seismic hazard. While much research has been carried out in the recent past on PBSD, a number of issues, such as, availability of a robust mechanism for achieving PBSD within the constraints of the current building codes, and reliable and simplified methods for PBSD and seismic performance evaluation of buildings, remained unresolved. The proposed research will address these issues, and begin by evaluating the seismic provisions of NBCC 2005 to determine the seismic performance of the new buildings, and developing methods by which the performance of such buildings can be optimized. Reliable and simplified methods for PBSD of buildings will be developed for performance analysis under multiple levels of seismic hazard. Apart from the design of new buildings, the methods developed herein can also be potentially used for performance-based seismic upgrade of existing buildings. There is a significant potential for innovation in the proposed research which aims at enhancing the fundamental knowledge on earthquake resistant design and developing methodologies for designing economical and safer building structures.