Peak displacement patterns for the performance-based seismic design of steel eccentrically braced frames

Performance-based seismic design(PBSD) aims to assess structures at different damage states. Since damage can be directly associated to displacements, seismic design with consideration of displacement seems to be logical. In this study, simple formulae to estimate the peak floor displacement patterns of eccentrically braced frames(EBFs) at different performance levels subjected to earthquake ground motions are proposed. These formulae are applicable in a PBSD and especially in direct displacement-based design(DDBD). Parametric study is conducted on a group of 30 EBFs under a set of 15 far field and near field accelerograms which they scaled to different amplitudes to adapt various performance levels. The results of thousands of nonlinear dynamic analyses of EBFs have been post-processed by nonlinear regression analysis in order to recognize the major parameters that influence the peak displacement pattern of these frames. Results show that suggested displacement patterns have relatively good agreement with those acquired by an exact nonlinear dynamic analysis.