What is Seismic analysis?
'''Seismic performance analysis''' or '''seismic analysis''' is an intellectual tool of [[earthquake engineering]] which breaks the complex topic into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of [[seismic performance]] of [[building]] and non-building structures or their [[building model|models]]. In general, seismic analysis is based on the methods of ''structural dynamics''.<ref name=DynamicsOfStructures>{{cite book|title= Dynamics of Structures|url= https://archive.org/details/dynamicsofstruct0000chop_m0d9|author=Chopra, Anil K.|date=1995|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=0138552142}}</ref> For decades, the most prominent instrument of seismic analysis has been the earthquake ''response spectrum method'' <ref name=EarthquakeSpectra>{{cite book|title= Earthquake Spectra and Design|url= https://archive.org/details/earthquakespectr0000newm|author=Newmark, N.M.; Hall, W.J.|date=1982|publisher=[[Earthquake Engineering Research Institute|EERI]]|isbn=0943198224}}</ref> which, also, contributed to the proposed [[building code]]'s concept of today.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ecs.csun.edu/~shustov/Topic7.htm |title=A new concept of design code for seismic performance |access-date=2010-03-30 |archive-date=2015-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923233331/http://www.ecs.csun.edu/~shustov/Topic7.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, those ''response spectra'' are good, mostly, for single-degree-of-freedom systems. Numerical ''step-by-step integration'',<ref name=DynamicsofStructures>{{cite book|title= Dynamics of Structures|url= https://archive.org/details/dynamicsofstruct0000clou|author=Clough, Ray W.; Penzien, Joseph|date=1993|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=0070113947}}</ref> applied with the ''charts of seismic performance'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ecs.csun.edu/~shustov/Topic6.htm |title=Performance charting for dynamic structural control prodjects |access-date=2010-03-30 |archive-date=2009-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010033011/http://www.epet.space3d.biz/ |url-status=d