Purpose: After a brief introduction about the importance and definition of Performance-based Seismic Engineering (P-B SE), this paper addressed the following main objectives: (1) To review what are the main features that an Earthquake Resistant Design Approach (EQ-RD) should have to satisfy P-B SE should have; (2) To show why a comprehensive-based design is considered the most suitable approach for P-B SE; (3) To present a proposed comprehensive approach for design of buildings and discuss briefly the application of this approach to the design of two reinforced concrete buildings, one of 30 stories and another of 10 stories. Outcomes: From the analysis of the results obtained on the response of the buildings designed according to the comprehensive approach and taking in consideration from the beginning of the design process the probability of the occurrence of different types of earthquake ground motion time histories (from impulsive to periodic types) it is possible to arrive to a final design, whose seismic responses to these different types of ground motions and at the different levels of severity considered in the design are acceptable. The same cannot be stated when other simplified design approaches are used.
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