Introduction, scope and performance criteria
Robert D. Ewing · 2020
Low-rise buildings have low aspect ratios, shallow foundations, generally flexible horizontal diaphragms, and are frequently constructed with several different materials that have dissimilar stiffness, strength, and mass properties. Low-rise buildings typically utilize a broad range of building materials in their structural frame and architectural cladding. Low-rise building design has in the past been primarily concerned with gravity load effects, and the effects of lateral forces produced by windstorms and earthquakes have often been given only cursory acknowledgment. Several issues must be taken into account when developing performance criteria for buildings, namely; life safety, personal injury, loss of function, serviceability, property damage, and cost effectiveness of the design. The threat to life safety, personal injury, and loss of function is due to the inability of the structure to sustain its lateral or vertical load-carrying capability and/or the separation of the parts of the structure from one another.