Refinement and Validation of the Simple Lateral Mechanism Analysis (SLaMA) Procedure for RC Frames

The 2017 New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE) guidelines for seismic assessment of buildings recommends using Simple Lateral Mechanism Analysis (SLaMA) before implementing numerical analyses. The method and the NZSEE guidelines have been enhanced from the 2006 version, resulting into an efficient procedure, balancing simplicity and accuracy. This paper presents a numerical study, initiated as part of the development of the SLaMA-2017 method, to investigate the accuracy of the analytical approach via comparison with numerical 2D-pushover on 40 RC frames. SLaMA is effective in capturing the plastic mechanism of the frames, including global or soft-story mechanisms. Further-yet-simple refinements of the procedure are suggested.