determi nation of structural forms for seismic resistant design

in an earthquake country like iran it is of paramount importance that the structural form be sound. the designer must be able to predict satisfactorily the behavior of the structure in the event of a strong ground motion. in order to be able to make a wise choice, he also should know enough about the consequences of the earthquake damage to the structure and economic factors involved. this piper presents state- of- the-art guidelines for selecting suitable structural forms for seismic resistant design. behavior of common structural forms are studied and their deficiencies are pointed out. effect of the nonstructural members on the seismic behavior of the structure is discussed.