DEVELOPMENT AND VERIFICATION OF A FULLY ADAPTIVE PUSHOVER PROCEDURE

Inelastic static pushover analysis of structural systems subjected to earthquake loading is rapidly gaining ground as a tool for design and assessment. Whereas the potential of such methods is recognised, especially in contrast with force-based elastic analysis, there have been concerns over their reliability in predicting correctly the inelastic seismic demands. In this study, a new enhanced pushover methodology, which tries to mitigate some of the inherent limitations of static procedures, is proposed. The suggested scheme is fully adaptive and considers the current stiffness state and modal properties of the structure at various levels of inelasticity to update the lateral load distribution along the height. Additionally, site-specific spectra can be taken into account for the scaling of the forces. The integrity of the method is verified through the use of a set of sophisticated structural models, utilising both conventional pushover, as well as inelastic dynamic analysis procedures, for comparison purposes. It is shown that the new approach yields static analysis results very close to inelastic time-history analysis and captures response characteristics that only detailed dynamic analysis could predict. The performance and applicability of the method are commented, and areas for further developments are explored