Seismic response prediction of base-isolated buildings

When Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) is applied, the higher the predictive power of the selected intensity measures (IMs), the lower the uncertainty in the estimated Engineering Demand Parameters (EDPs) is and, therefore, the lower the number of computer runs necessary to achieve the desired level of statistical accuracy. In recent years base isolation has become an ever increasingly applied technique for protecting buildings located in highly seismic areas. However few studies on accuracy and efficiency of IMs in predicting the seismic response have been tested for base-isolated buildings. The objective of this work is to establish correlations between IMs and EDP describing key index for base-isolated structures, using a comprehensive set of ground-motion time histories (both ordinary and near-fault pulse-like records) for a variety of base isolated structures. Proposals for eventually needed new and more efficient parameters are finally discussed and presented. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group, London.