Seismic Demands for Performance-Based Design of Bridges




1 Introduction
Performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) describes a quantitative means for designers of structures to achieve predetermined performance levels or objectives in a specific hazard environment. Recent efforts have been aimed at moving away from traditional single limit state, deterministic, design techniques. Multiple performance objectives, each comprising a performance level at a seismic hazard level, require a significantly more complex design framework. SEAOC’s Vision 2000 [SEAOC 1995] and the subsequent Recommended Lateral Force Requirements [SEAOC 1996] allowed for four performance objectives for each hazard intensity category. This uncoupled approach lacked rigorous acceptance criteria for each performance level, and was a deterministic solution to a probabilistic seismic input.


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