Accuracy of Advanced Methods for Nonlinear Static Analysis of Steel Moment-Resisting Frames

Abstract

The reliability of advanced nonlinear static procedures to estimate deformation demands of steel momentresisting frames under seismic loads is investigated. The advantages of refined adaptive and multimodal pushover procedures over conventional methods based on invariant lateral load patterns are evaluated. In particular, their computational attractiveness and capability of providing satisfactory predictions of seismic demands in comparison with those obtained by conventional force-based methods are examined. The results obtained by the static advanced methods, used in the form of different variants of the original Capacity Spectrum Method and Modal Pushover Analysis, are compared with the results of nonlinear response history analysis. Both effectiveness and accuracy of these approximated methods are verified through an extensive comparative study involving both regular and irregular steel moment resisting frames subjected to different acceleration records.