A new non-iterative procedure to estimate seismic demands of structures

Using the nonlinear static procedures has become very common in seismic codes to achieve the nonlinear response of the structure during an earthquake. The capacity spectrum method (CSM) adopted in ATC-40 is considered as one of the most known and useful procedures. For this procedure the seismic demand can be approximated from the maximum deformation of an equivalent linear elastic Single-Degree-of-Freedom system (SDOF) that has an equivalent damping ratio and period by using an iterative procedure. Data from the results of this procedure are plotted in acceleration- displacement response spectrum (ADRS) format. Different improvements have been made in order to have more accurate results compared to the Non Linear Time History Analysis (NL-THA). A new procedure is presented in this paper where the iteration process shall not be required. This will be done by estimation the ductility demand response spectrum (DDRS) and the corresponding effective damping of the bilinear system based on a new parameter of control, called normalized yield strength coefficient (η), while retaining the attraction of graphical implementation of the improved procedure of the FEMA-440. The proposed procedure accuracy should be verified with the NL-THA analysis results as a first implementation. The comparison shows that the new procedure provided a good estimation of the nonlinear response of the structure compared with those obtained when using the NL-THA analysis.