Uncertainty Reduction in Earthquake-Induced Responses of a Performance-Based Engineered Structure with Active Control

The essence of a performance-based design (PBD) is to demonstrate through rational means that the completed design will be capable of providing the desired performance according to a series of performance objectives set forth at the beginning of a project. Due to load and strength uncertainties, however, it is impossible to design a structure for specific performance objectives with complete assurance. In this paper, an attempt is made to reduce the uncertainties in earthquake effects on a structure so that specific objectives in PBD can be met with significantly increased assurance. It involves two distinctive components: new definition of design earthquakes, and bounded control on seismic responses. The needs and methodologies to develop these concepts are discussed, and preliminary results are presented towards their developments with a single-story building structure.