An office building is planned and designed with a lateral load-resisting structural system for earthquake resistance in a seismic zone. The seismic capacity C (in terms of force factor) of the proposed system is assumed to have a normal distribution with a median of 6.5 and a standard deviation of 1.5. The ground motion expected to be generated by the maximum possible earthquake at the building site will have an equivalent force factor of 5.5.

An office building is planned and designed with a iateral load-resisting structural system for earthquake resistance in a seismic zone. The seismic capacity C (in terms of force factor) of the proposed system is assumed to have a normal distribution with a median of 6.5 and a standard deviation of 1.5. The ground motion expected to be generated by the maximum possible earthquake at the building site will have an equivalent force factor of 5.5. (a) What is the estimated probability of damage to the ofce building when subjected to the maximum possible earthquake? (b) Ifthe building should survive (without any damage) a previous moderate earthquake with a force factor of 4.0, what would be its future failure probability under the maximum possible earthquake