Displacement-based design applied to a reinforced concrete building

A new technique to initiate the seismic design process by imposing an initial damage state, called Displacement-Based Design, is presented. This involves a step-by-step procedure, in which damage, expressing a limit, is used to evaluate internal force demand and finally the structures performance evaluation. This paper aims at applying the Displacement-Based Design methodology to a four-storey reinforced concrete building. Some results are compared with the non-linear dynamic procedure results, for which five accelerograms were used. The results obtained are presented in terms of global deformation demands like maximum roof displacement and base shear , and as well as local demands in the form of inter-storey displacements, storey shear and storey displacement distribution , and rotation ductility at critical sections. The results show that the described procedure provides adequate information on the seismic demand imposed by the ground motion on a regular structural system.