: Minimizing structural damage during more frequent, smaller quakes to keep repair costs manageable.
: Ensuring structures do not collapse under rare, intense earthquakes. Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake...
: This allows designers to reduce the calculated elastic seismic forces based on the structure's ability to absorb energy through plastic deformation. : Minimizing structural damage during more frequent, smaller
Eurocode 8 is famously "force-based," though it is increasingly incorporating "displacement-based" methods for assessment. Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake...
The code is built around a "limit state" philosophy with three primary goals:
: Rather than designing structures to be infinitely strong (and heavy), engineers design them to be "ductile"—able to bend and dissipate energy without breaking.