Displacement-Based Seismic Assessment of Low-Height Conﬁned Masonry Buildings Amador Terán-Gilmore, a) Oscar Zuñiga-Cuevas, a) and Jorge Ruiz-García b) This paper presents a practical displacement-based evaluation procedure for the seismic assessment of low-height regular conﬁned masonry buildings. First, the so-called Coefﬁcient Method established in several FEMA documents is adapted to obtain rapid estimates of inelastic roof displacement demands for regular conﬁned masonry buildings. For that purpose, a statistical study of constant relative strength inelastic displacement ratios of single- degree-of-freedom systems representing conﬁned masonry buildings is carried out. Second, a nonlinear simpliﬁed model is introduced to perform pushover analysis of regular conﬁned masonry buildings whose global and local behavior is dominated by shear deformations in the masonry walls. The model, which can be applied through the use of commercial software, can be used to establish the capacity curve of such buildings. Finally, the evaluation procedure is applied to a three-story building tested at a shaking table testing facility. DOI: 10.1193/1.3111149 INTRODUCTION Displacement-based procedures for the seismic evaluation of existing structures and for the preliminary design of new structures are increasing in popularity. The practical objective of a displacement-based procedure is to predict the expected performance of a structure in future earthquake shaking. For this purpose, performance-based formats characterize performance in terms of damage to structural and nonstructural compo- nents. Since structural damage implies inelastic behavior, evaluation procedures require nonlinear analysis techniques to estimate the magnitude of inelastic deformation de- mands. Subsequently these demands are used to determine performance based on pre- viously established acceptance criteria. Thus, the application of the concept of performance-based design and evaluation can only be successful in reducing seismic risk if nonlinear analysis techniques are applied in an extensive manner to existing and new construction. According to its 2000 census, Mexico has close to 22 million housing units that house about 100 million people. Eighty percent of these dwellings are built with some type of masonry (unreinforced masonry or conﬁned masonry with tie-end lightly- a) UniversidadAutónoma Metropolitana, Depto. de Materiales,Av. San Pablo 180, 02200 México, D.F., México; tga@correo.azc.uam.mx b) Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Facultad de Ingeniería Civil, Ediﬁcio C, Cd. Universitaria, 58040 Morelia, México; jruizgar@stanfordalumni.org 439 Earthquake Spectra, Volume 25, No. 2, pages 439–464, May 2009; © 2009, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute