RELIABILITY OF CURRENT STEEL BUILDING DESIGNS FOR SEISMIC LOADS

This is a progress report of a research project which evaluates the performance and safety of buildings designed according to the recently proposed procedures such as Uniform Building Code (UBC) and Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC). The extensive results from recent analytical studies of structural behavior, laboratory tests of structural and nonstructural components and field ground motion and damage investigations form the data basis for this study. State-of-the-art reliability methods are used. The study concentrates on low-to medium-rise steel buildings. Both time history and random vibration methods are used for the response analysis. Limit states considered include maximum story drift, damage to nonstructural components and content, and low cycle fatigue damage to members and connections. The risks implied in the current procedure, for example those based on various RW factors for different structural types, will be calculated and their consistency examined.