The Applied Technology Council is adapting PEER's performance-based earthquake engineering methodology to professional practice. The methodology's damage-analysis stage uses fragility functions to calculate the probability of damage to facility components given the force, deformation, or other engineering demand parameter (EDP) to which each is subjected. This paper introduces a set of procedures for creating fragility functions from various kinds of data: (A) actual EDP at which each specimen failed; (B) bounding EDP, in which some specimens failed and one knows the EDP to which each specimen was subjected; (C) capable EDP, where specimen EDPs are known but no specimens failed; (D) derived, where fragility functions are produced analytically; (E) expert opinion; and (U) updating, in which one improves an existing fragility function using new observations. Methods C, E, and U are all introduced here for the first time. A companion document offers additional procedures and more examples.

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The Department of Energy (DOE) and the DOE Natural Phenomena Hazards Panel have developed uniform design and evaluation guidelines for protection against natural phenomena hazards at DOE sites throughout the United States (UCRL-15910). The goal of the guidelines is to assure that DOE facilities car_withstand the effects of natural phenomena such as earthquakes, extreme winds, tornadoes, and flooding. The guidelines apply to both new facilities (design) and existing facilities (evaluation, modification, and upgrading). The intended audience isprimarily the civil/structural or mechanical engineers conducting the design or evaluation of DOE facilities. DOE Order 6430. lA, General Design Criteria Manual, was revised in 1989. This current version of Order 6430. lA references these guidelines (UCRL-15910) as an acceptable approach for design evaluation of DOE facilities for the effects of natural phenomena hazards. UCRL-15910 provides earthquake ground acceleration, wind speed, tornado wind speed and other effects, and flood level corresponding to the design basis earthquake (DBE), design basis wind (DBW), design basis tornado (DBT), and design basis flood (DBFL) as described in Order 6430.1A. Integrated with these natural phenomena Ioadings, UCRL-15910 provides recommended response evaluation methods and acceptance criteria in order to achieve acceptably low probabilities of facility damage due to natural phenomena. iv recent information and techniques available, In any case, to achieve a specified perforrnance goal, hazard annual probabilities of exceedance are specified with design and evaluation procedures that provide a consistent and appropriate level of conservatism.

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