Seismic Design and Performance

While they meet the safety requirement of building codes, special reinforced masonry wall systems designed according to current codes and practice may not perform in the manner consistent with the design expectation in the event of a major earthquake. This stems from the fact that seismic design provisions focus primarily on strength and reinforcement details, without sufficient consideration of the actual behavior of a wall system under severe seismic actions. To have a consistent level of safety and performance, a performance-based design approach may be followed to ensure that the structural system performs predictably. This article summarizes some recent research findings that may help this design process. …