Yield displacement-based seismic design of RC wall buildings

A simple method is presented for the performance-based seismic design of ductile RC wall buildings. The design method is based on an estimate of the roof displacement at yield. The required base shear strength is determined using Yield Point Spectra based on an “equivalent” single-degree-of-freedom (ESDOF) system representation of the wall system. The walls are designed for a single base shear force that is established based on one or more performance objectives, where each performance level is expressed in terms of roof drift and plastic hinge rotation at the base of the wall. A six-story building is used as an example to illustrate the method, with the hazard represented by either smoothed design spectra or recorded ground motions. Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses confirm the adequacy of the method to achieve the intended performance objectives.