Chapter 4: Initial planning considerations and seismic codes

When designing buildings in areas of high seismic hazard, earthquake performance is a key driver in the initial planning of a structure, but many other factors – architectural, economic, functional, local availability of skills and materials, and so on – must also be considered. A sensible design concept that accounts for all of these factors will minimise the chance of embarrassing modifications in a later design phase, or – worse – disastrous seismic performance when the building is in use.

The selection of building code (whether mandated by local laws or chosen by the engineer) is another decision that must be made early in the design process. Different codes adopt different seismic performance criteria, give information about the local seismic hazard, and contain requirements for the treatment of ductility, capacity design and detailing, and methods of analysis that may be used to underpin a design.