Reinforced concrete Special Moment Frame (RC-SMF) with irregularity in dimension

experiences large inelastic deformation under ground motion. The building code for designing

structural elements generally is focused on satisfying the strength and serviceability. On the

other hand, the displacement-based design (DBD) procedure is based on building performance

level. This paper presents a devoted study of designing structural elements of 8 and 4 story RCSMF

with and without vertical irregularity using the DBD method. This method is mainly using

energy-work balance concept with pre-selected yield mechanism and target drift. Moreover, a

new lateral force distribution method is used in this study which accounts for inelastic dynamic

response and higher mode effects. Strong column-weak beam mechanism is used to design

beam and column, and beam moment capacity of each floor is calculated by equating external

work to internal work approach. Furthermore, column design strength is taken as the

combination of factored gravity loads and maximum expected strength of the beam. The time

history analysis results show that story drift is below than the target drift and achieve the desired

performance level. Moreover, the results also show lateral force distribution is very close to

the lateral shear distribution which obtained from time history analysis.