Code Inadequacies Discouraging the Earthquake-based Seismic Analysis of Buildings

Despite being the more accurate method to design earthquake-resistant buildings, the non-linear dynamic analysis still remains the least used in practice. The paper shows that some code inadequacies may even contribute to ward off the designer from this kind of seismic analysis. To this purpose, non-linear analyses under different sets of spectrum-compatible earthquakes and by considering two distinct plastic-hinge models were carried out for a multistory r/c frame designed according to the Eurocode 8 provisions. It is shown that owing to the inadequate limits imposed to the spectrum-compatible earthquakes, the European codes of practice may lead to significant inconsistencies in the seismic design of structures through the time-history non-linear analysis.