PEER Reports

Experience and research on reinforced concrete bridges indicate that relatively stable response to strong ground motions can be obtained if the system is proportioned and detailed so that the predominant inelastic response is restricted to flexure in the column. In this case, it is important to know the strength of the column so that strengths of adjacent components can be set high enough to avoid inelastic action in those components. Details also are required that will enable the column to sustain the necessary inelastic deformations without disabling loss of resistance. Of interest are...

Considerable research is under way throughout the world to establish performance-based assessment and design methodology for buildings. Japan and the United States are at the forefront of this research effort, as well as efforts to implement the research results. The U.S.-Japan Cooperative Research in Urban Earthquake Disa ster Mitigation, sponsored in Japan by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, and in the U.S. by the National Science Foundation, is funding collaborative research in Japan and the U.S. The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center in the U.S. has...

In this report the development and validation of a simple yet dependable method to estimate the seismic response of freeway overcrossings is presented. The proposed method adopts the sub-structure approach to address the issue of soil-foundation-superstructure interaction. The various steps of the method are validated with scarce historic records and are compared with the results obtained by other investigators.

Recognizing that soil-structure interaction affects appreciably the earthquake response of highway overcrossings, Chapter 2 concentrates on the calculation of the kinematic...

Decisions about seismic performance are the underpinnings of a rigorous approach to performance-based earthquake engineering and should specifically consider the decision variables within the PEER framing equation. This report considers the decision-making process for seismic safety from the perspective of organizations—building owners, investors, and others concerned with single facilities or a collection of facilities—and from the perspective of society.

The dominant mode of seismic performance decision making, “risk and safety as by- products of design,” falls short in not...