Ultimate behaviour of r.c. frames under seismic loads: influence of design parameters

A procedure for the analysis of the ultimate behaviour of reinforced concrete (R.C.) frames under seismic loads is defined in detail and it is applied to four schemes, each one designed many times with different behaviour factors and design criteria. The results obtained confirm the effectiveness of the adopted procedure, pointing out the influence of the intensity of the seismic event on the structure. The possibility of relating the entity of damage and the probability of failure to the design parameters allows a proper evaluation of the influence of these parameters, giving the national authorities a powerful tool particularly useful in order to define the optimal value of the boxed coefficients to be inserted in Eurocode 8.