Extension of modal pushover analysis to compute member forces

This paper extends the modal pushover analysis (MPA) procedure for estimating seismic deformation demands for buildings to compute member forces. Seismic demands are computed for six buildings, each analyzed for 20 ground motions. A comparison of seismic demands computed by the MPA and nonlinear response history analysis (RHA) demonstrates that the MPA procedure provides good estimates of the member forces. The bias (or error) in forces is generally less than that noted in earlier investigations of story drifts and is comparable to the error in the standard response spectrum analysis (RSA) for elastic buildings. The four FEMA-356 force distributions, on the other hand, provide estimates of member forces that may be one-half to one-fourth of the value from nonlinear REA.