Current topics on performance based design

In Japan, a country frequently affected by earthquakes, the anti-seismic criteria have been repeatedly revised since the time it was first introduced by earthquake legislation after the Great Kanto earthquake occurred in 1923. In addition to earthquakes, other natural disasters including inundation damage due to storm surge in coastal areas, flood damage of rivers, roads and railways caused by heavy rains, and sediment damage have also frequently occurred in Japan. In such a harsh environment, in order to reasonably construct and maintain safe and secure infrastructure, starting with the transition of design method from conventional Specification Based Design to Performance Based Design (“PBD”), a variety of technical standards and categories of standards have been developed specifically, based on types of facilities like rivers, roads, railways, ports, and power transmission, or types of materials like soil, steel-concrete, while various research and development have been carried out and advanced technologies have been introduced.          

On the other hand, the transition to “PBD” has been accelerated since it is required by the WTO/TBT Agreement ratified in 1995 that international standards should be used as the basis of domestic standards. In order to comply with international standards, comprehensive design codes have been formulated based on the concept of “PBD” in Japan, and revisions of various domestic standards under these comprehensive design codes have been carried out.

In this special issue, Performance Based Design is highlighted in order to clarify what is “PBD” which is the basic concept of comprehensive design codes, and what is expected by introducing “PBD”.