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Proceedings of the International Conference on
Advances and New Challenges in Earthquake
Engineering Research, Hong Kong Volume
A GENERAL APPROACH TO SEISMIC PERFORMANCE
ASSESSMENT
H. Krawinkler 1
'Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-4020, USA
ABSTRACT
Performance-based earthquake engineering implies design, evaluation, and construction of engineered
structures whose seismic performance meets the diverse economic and safety needs of owners and
society. As the First major step towards an integrated design/assessment approach, the Pacific
Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center has focused on the development of procedures,
knowledge, and tools for a comprehensive seismic performance assessment of buildings and bridges.
This paper focuses on the general performance assessment methodology developed by PEER
researchers for buildings. The approach is aimed at improving decision-making about seismic risk by
making the choice of performance goals, and the tradeoffs they entail, apparent and transparent. In the
approach, decision variables are identified whose quantification, together with an assessment of
important uncertainties, will make it feasible to characterize and manage economic and societal risks
above and beyond potential loss of life and injuries.
INTRODUCTION
The following paragraph was written at a time when the value, practicality, and direction of
performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) was a matter of much debate in professional and
academic organizations (Krawinkler, 1997):
"Performance-based seismic engineering is a noble concept. Its implementation, however, has a long
way to go. There are legal and professional barriers, but there are also many questions whether it will
be able to deliver its promises. It appears to promise engineered structures whose performance can be
quantified and conforms to the owner's desires. If rigorously held to this promise, performance-based
engineering will be a losing cause. We all know that we cannot predict all important seismic demands
and capacities with confidence, even in a probabilistic format. There are, nevertheless, compelling
reasons to advocate performance-based engineering as a critical area for research and implementation.
The objective of seismic engineering should be to design and build better and more economical
facilities. Both terms, "better" and "more economical", are relative to the status quo. In the writer's
opinion, significant improvements beyond the status quo will not be achieved without a new and
idealistic target to shoot for. We need to set this target high and strive to come close to its
accomplishment. We may never fully reach it, but we will make significant progress if we have a well