Characterization for Performance Based Design

ABSTRACT: The major development in urban earthquake engineering in the last 10 years is the concept of performance based design. A crucial feature of this new design approach is recognition of the impact of flexibility of foundations on the seismic demand and seismic response of structures. The challenge for geotechnical engineers is to characterize the actions of the foundation-soil system effectively in a manner compatible with commercial software used in design practice. The state of practice for characterization of the actions of the foundations on structural response is reviewed and the effectiveness of various approximate approaches are evaluated