9409268 Chai This is a Research Initiation Award to study the damage characterization of structural elements and systems subjected to seismic loading. Several damage indices have been proposed and are being used in the earthquake engineering community. However, these are based on initiative rationale and unverified assumptions. This project will examine the applicability and consistency of various currently used damage indices based on experimental work. Several specimens will be prepared, both with symmetric and asymmetric lateral load deformation characteristics, and tested under monotonic, cyclic and randomly sequenced cyclic loadings. The calculated damage indices will be compared with the observed values. If the currently used damage indices are found inadequate to represent the experimentally observed behavior, the new methods to calculate damage indices will be developed. ***
