Accurate Application and Second-Order Improvement of SAC/FEMA Probabilistic Formats for Seismic Performance Assessment
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 2
Abstract
The SEAONC/ATC/CUREE (SAC/FEMA) probabilistic framework is based on a closed-form expression to estimate analytically the value of the risk integral convolving seismic hazard and structural response. Despite its practicality, implementation has been hindered by reduced accuracy due to a number of approximations that are needed to achieve a desirable form, the most significant being the power-law fitting of the seismic hazard curve. To mitigate this problem, two approaches are given: (1) selecting an appropriately biased power-law fit, and (2) offering a novel closed-form expression involving a second-order approximation. Where blind application of the original format could involve errors in excess of 100% for the predicted mean annual frequency of limit-state (LS) exceedance, biased fitting reduces it to less than 50% for many practical cases, whereas the new closed-form expression consistently brings it below 10%. While other sources of error still remain, the robustness achieved opens new avenues of application for this popular format.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support was provided by the EU Research Executive Agency via the Marie Curie Continuing Integration Grant No. PCIG09-GA-2011-293855. The New Zealand seismic hazard data are courtesy of Dr. B. Bradley. Finally, the author wishes to gratefully acknowledge the guidance and friendship of Dr. H. Krawinkler, who passed away on April 16, 2012, and has been a source of inspiration throughout his academic career.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 2 • February 2014
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 31, 2012
Accepted: Nov 6, 2012
Published online: Nov 8, 2012
Published in print: Feb 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Mar 21, 2014
Notes
Based on a short paper presented at the 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal, 2012.
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