Seismic Evaluation of Systems and Components

Analysis of systems and components for seismic loads has been under continuous development during the last decade. Unlike the early stages of development where the emphasis was on conservatism, the past decade has seen tremendous amount of growth in improved evaluation techniques, more realistic criteria, and better understanding in the dynamic behavior of systems and components under earthquake loads. Accuracy of the evaluation method and the effect of over conservatism on the reliability of the design during operating conditions have become the focus of attention. This has sparked renewed interest in revising many basic assumptions made in the early history of seismic analysis. This revision has also led to many new methods of evaluation and new design concepts. In this paper, developments in seismic evaluation during the last decade are reviewed. The objective is to provide a self-contained overview of the techniques, criteria, and procedures that have contributed to the state of the art development in the entire evaluation process leading to the design acceptability of systems and components.