MERGING LIFE CYCLE COST ANALYSIS AND PERFORMANCE-BASED DESIGN

Life cycle cost analyses have been suggested as one way to evaluate the performance of a building structure. This paper presents the results of a simulation study to evaluate how the expected life cycle cost of a structure varies with the yield base shear strength of the structure, the discount rate considered in the economic analysis, the design life of the structure, and other parameters. The structure considered in the study is a three-story steel moment frame structure located in Los Angeles, California. Nonlinear dynamic analyses of the structure were performed to estimate structural response quantities of interest, and this information was used to estimate structural damage costs using the HAZUS®99 damage cost model. The results suggest that future seismic design codes, particularly performance-based codes, must specify more stringent requirements if cost-optimum designs are to be achieved