G.17.4.1.2 Purpose of a Pushover Analysis
To overcome this disadvantages different nonlinear static analysis method is used to estimate the inelastic seismic performance of structures, and as the result, the structural safety can be secured against an earthquake. Inelastic analysis procedures help demonstrate how buildings really work by identifying modes of failure and the potential for progressive collapse. The use of inelastic procedures for design and evaluation is an attempt to help engineers better understand how structures will behave when subjected to major earthquakes, where it is assumed that the elastic capacity of the structure will be exceeded. This resolves some of the uncertainties associated with code and elastic procedures.
The practice of earthquake engineering is rapidly evolving to understand the behavior of buildings subjected to strong earthquakes. In order to be able to predict such behavior pushover analysis is performed. The overall capacity of a structure depends on the strength and deformation capacities of the individual components of the structure. In order to determine capacities beyond the elastic limit some form of nonlinear analysis, like Pushover Analysis, is required. It is a new performance based seismic design to achieve analytically a structural design that will reliably perform in a prescribed manner under one or more seismic environment.