The northridge Earthquake of 1994 resulted in weld fractures in beam-to-column connections in numerous moment-resisting steel frames. Two of these steel frames that suffered varying degrees of connection damage in the Northridge Earthquake are evalauted in this paper using a nonlinear dynamic time-domain anlaysis that incorporates degrading connection behavior due to weld fracture and an efficient statistical sampling plan to model uncertainties in ground motion and structurla behavior. The comparisons of predicted and observed building damage highlight the limitations of using current deterministic approaches for post-earthquake building assessment. The role of inherent randomness and mdoeling uncertainty in forecasting building performance is examined through a building fragility assessment.
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