Inelastic Versus Elastic Displacement-Based Intensity Measures for Seismic Analysis

Abstract—Intensity measure (IM) is a parameter that is used to scale the records for the time-history analysis of a structure subjected to seismic loads. It is well known that the accuracy of the seismic response of the structure depends very much on IM. This paper presents a study on the use of the inelastic displacement as IM for the nonlinear time-history analysis. For the purpose of the study, three reinforced concrete moment-resisting frame buildings (4-, 10-, and 16-storey high) designed for Vancouver, Canada were used in the analysis. The buildings were subjected to the total number of 40 records scaled to five intensity levels which represent a global ductility of 1 to 5. Based on the results from the analysis, it was found out that the inelastic displacement does not have advantage over the elastic displacement (or the spectral acceleration) as IM.