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Abstract The uncertainty in the seismic demand of a structure (referred to as the engineering demand parameter, EDP) needs to be properly characterized in performance‐based earthquake engineering. Uncertainties in the ground motion and in structural properties are responsible for EDP uncertainty. In this study, sensitivity of EDPs to major uncertain variables is investigated using the first‐order second‐moment method for a case study building. This method is shown to be simple and efficient for estimating the sensitivity of seismic demand. The EDP uncertainty induced by each uncertain variable is used to determine which variables are most significant. Results show that the uncertainties in ground motion are more significant for global EDPs, namely peak roof acceleration and displacement, and maximum inter‐storey drift ratio, than those in structural properties. Uncertainty in the intensity measure (IM) of ground motion is the dominant variable for uncertainties in local EDPs such as the curvature demand at critical cross‐sections. Conditional sensitivity of global and local EDPs given IM is also estimated. It is observed that the combined effect of uncertainties in structural properties is more significant than uncertainty in ground motion profile at lower IM levels, while the opposite is true at higher IM levels. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lee et al. (Wed,) studied this question.