Evaluation of methods used for the direct generation of response spectra

The paper presents an alternate methodology by which seismic in-structure response spectra may be generated directly from either ground or floor excitation spectra. The method is based upon stochastic concepts and utilizes the modal superposition solution. The philosophy of the method is based upon the notion that the evaluation of 'peak' response in uncertain excitation environments is only meaningful in a probabilistic sense. This interpretation of response spectra facilitates the generation of in-structure spectra for any non-exceedance probability (NEP). The method is validated by comparisons with a set of deterministic time-history analyses with three example models: an eleven-story building model, a containment structure stick model, and a floor mounted control panel, subjected to ten input spectrum compatible acceleration time-histories. A significant finding resulting from these examples is that the time-history method portrayed substantial variation in the resulting in-structure spectra, and therefore is unreliable for the generation of spectra. It is shown that the average of the time-history generated spectra can be estimated by the direct generation procedure, and reliable spectra may be generated for 85 NEP levels. The methodology presented herein is shown to be valid for both primary and secondary systems. Also included in the paper, is a review of the stochastic methods proposed by Singh and Der Kiureghian et. al., and the Fourier transform method proposed by Scanlan et al. (orig./HP)