Abstract
The history of uitimate aseismic design of structures was started off with "Seismic Coefficient Method" (by Dr. Sano in 1915) and followed by "Velocity-Potential Energy Method" (by Dr. Tanabashi in 1935) and by "Resonance Fatigue Method" (by the authors in 1976). Ultimate aseismic design is defined, in this paper, to consist in polarizing excitation-and response-terms in equation of motion from the point of view of ultimate state. The input terms, namely, ground motion characteristics are described in terms of acceleration-, velocity-and displacement-amplitudes, period and duration of earthquakes for the newest ultimate aseismic design, "Resonance-Fatigue Method". As examples of excitations for such an ultimate aseismic design, ground motion characteristics are proposed quantitatively by functions of epicentral distance, earthquake magnitude and predominant period of site ground on the basis of a simple fault model of seismic origin.
