Report - PEER - University of California, Berkeley

DEVELOPMENT OF NEXT-GENERATION PERFORMANCE-BASEDSEISMIC DESIGN GUIDELINESRonald O. HAMBURGER 1ABSTRACTThe Applied Technology Council has initiated the ATC-58 project to develop next-generationperformance-based seismic design guidelines applicable to the design of new buildings andupgrade of existing buildings. The guidelines will enable: design of buildings capable of betteror more reliable performance than code-based procedures; provide a rational basis for thedesign of structures using new technologies and structural systems; and provide a means ofimproving the reliability and effectiveness of current building code procedures. Performancewill be expressed directly in terms of the probable financial, human, and occupancyinterruption losses caused by earthquake damage. Performance may be expressed as expectedlosses, given specific design events, average annual values, considering all events that mayoccur and the probability of each, or probable maximum losses over a given time interval, asbest suits the decision-making style of individual stakeholders. Performance assessmentprocedures employed by the guidelines are based on the framework developed by the PacificEarthquake Engineering Research Center. Though primarily intended to guide the design ofbuildings to resist the effects of earthquakes, the guidelines are intended to be compatible withperformance-based design procedures currently under development by others to address, fire,blast and other extreme hazards. The ATC-58 project is funded by the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency.Keywords: Design criteria; Performance-based engineering.1. INTRODUCTIONSince the initial development of building code provisions for earthquake resistance,the primary intent of code criteria has been to protect life safety by providingreasonable assurance that buildings would not collapse in anticipated levels ofshaking. Following the 1989 Loma Prieta and 1994 Northridge earthquakes,structural engineers in the United States began development of structural designprocedures that would reduce the financial and other losses associated withearthquake damage. The resulting criteria and methodologies came to be known as“performance-based design.” Interest in these procedures has spread throughout theinternational earthquake engineering community.1 Principal, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc. San Francisco, California, USA89