Abstract
A procedure is presented for the selection of ground motion records, suitable for an optimized incremental dynamic analysis. The procedure is optimized with respect to (1) reduction in the number of records, and (2) improved accuracy, compared to random record selection. The procedure is applied to a bilinear single-degree-of-freedom system, which could act as a proxy to a more complex multi-degree-of-freedom system. A vector-valued intensity measure is proposed, which contains the normalized spectral area parameter, in an effort to capture the effect of frequency content and period elongation on the structural response. The damage measure investigated is the ductility factor, whose relationship and correlation to the intensity measure are quantified through regression analysis. By way of example, the prediction of the ductility demand for a bilinear system representing a ten-story building is presented. © 2011 Taylor & Francis Group, London.