| Abstract: | Non‐linear dynamic time‐history analyses conducted as part of a performance‐based seismic design approach often require that the ground motion records are scaled to a specified level of seismic intensity. Recent research has demonstrated that certain ground motion scaling methods can introduce a large scatter in the estimated seismic demands. The resulting demand estimates may be biased, leading to designs with significant uncertainty and unknown margins of safety, unless a relatively large ensemble of ground motion records is used. This paper investigates the effectiveness of seven ground motion scaling methods in reducing the scatter in estimated peak lateral displacement demands. Non‐linear single‐degree‐of‐freedom systems and non‐linear multi‐degree‐of‐freedom systems are considered with different site conditions (site soil profile and epicentral distance) and structural characteristics (yield strength, period, and hysteretic behavior). It is shown that scaling methods that work well for ground motions representative of stiff soil and far‐field conditions lose their effectiveness for soft soil and near‐field conditions for a wide range of structural characteristics. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
