Prediction of spatially distributed seismic demands in specific structures: Ground motion and structural response

The efficacy of various ground motion intensity measures (IMs) in the prediction of spatially distributed seismic demands (engineering demand parameters, (EDPs)) within a structure is investigated. This has direct implications to building-specific seismic loss estimation, where the seismic demand on different components is dependent on the location of the component in the structure. Several common IMs are investigated in terms of their ability to predict the spatially distributed demands in a 10-storey office building, which is measured in terms of maximum interstorey drift ratios and maximum floor accelerations. It is found that the ability of an IM to efficiently predict a specific EDP depends on the similarity between the frequency range of the ground motion that controls the IM and that of the EDP. An IMs predictability has a direct effect on the median response demands for ground motions scaled to a specified probability of exceedance from a ground motion hazard curve. All of the IMs investigated were found to be insufficient with respect to at least one of magnitude, source-to-site distance, or epsilon when predicting all peak interstorey drifts and peak floor accelerations in a 10-storey reinforced concrete frame structure. Careful ground motion selection and/or seismic demand modification is therefore required to predict such a spatially distributed demands without significant bias. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.