Focus: Performance-Based Standards

Major Updates To Performance-Based Seismic Design Guidelines

Submitted by: Mark Perniconi

As buildings continue to reach greater heights, new codes and standards need to be created and adapted to apply to their construction. The Charles Pankow Foundation developed the Tall Building Initiative — Performance-Based Seismic Design Guidelines (TBI-PBDG) in 2010, and is now sponsoring a major update to the guidelines. These updates are necessary, as civil engineers have the ability to implement more efficient design and improve material, system, and device usage but may not have the opportunity to implement them in tall buildings under current provisions. Furthermore, using current prescriptive building codes for tall buildings in high seismic zones may result in higher construction costs and questionable seismic performance. The update of the TBI-PBDG incorporates the state-of-art knowledge gained since the original publication funded by CPF in 2010.

Source: Version 1.0 Guidelines for Performance-Based Seismic Design of Tall Buildings