Seismic analysis is a crucial procedure for the design of a structure subjected to ground motion. In conventional seismic analysis procedures,... Show moreSeismic analysis is a crucial procedure for the design of a structure subjected to ground motion. In conventional seismic analysis procedures, a structure is subjected to a limited number of earthquake excitations. Moreover, these procedures do not consider the presence of variations and uncertainties in those excitations. Interval analysis is one method capable of accounting for both of these limitations. In this work, a new method for seismic structural analysis, with interval uncertainty in the response spectrum, is developed, which is capable of obtaining the bounds of the dynamic response of a structure. This method is hereinafter referred to as Interval Ground Motion Analysis (IGMA). In this method, first, various response spectra are combined as an interval function, referred to as an interval response spectrum. Then, the response spectrum analysis is performed using the developed interval response spectrum, and the bounds of the dynamic response of the structure are obtained. It is shown that obtaining these bounds is computationally feasible and does not require iterative procedures such as Monte Carlo simulation. Numerical example problems, which illustrate the developed algorithm, are presented, along with a comparison of solutions obtained by another solution method. M.S. in Civil Engineering, December 2011 Show less
