Method of Constructing Maximum Design Response Spectra to Earthquakes

At present, the maximum response spectrum is a basic concept in seismic engineering, providing a convenient means for representing the impact of earthquakes on structures. It also provides a practical approach to the application of structural dynamics principles to the design of structures and the development of requirements in building codes and regulations. Unfortunately, this concept is practically unknown to Russian designers and is not used in seismic resistance calculations. In Russian standards, the concept of dynamic coefficients is used in seismic resistance calculations, which has no physical meaning for earthquakes. The absence of the concept of response spectra in Russian regulatory documents on seismic resistance calculations of structures, in our opinion, is a serious mistake. The presentation of response spectra of maximum displacements, velocities and accelerations in logarithmic coordinates on a single graph made it possible to identify patterns in almost any seismic impacts, which has found wide application in regulatory documents of many countries.