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Performance-Based Design (PBD) is a relatively new and powerful approach to structural engineering born from ongoing efforts to resolve the differences between the actual observed performance and the expected performance of structures. Previously observed differences between the actual and expected performances of structures, especially because of earthquakes, has led to advances in the understanding of system and material performance by the research and practicing community that at times go beyond the prescriptive requirements often found in the building codes.
With the improvements in the capability of relevant analytical tools and computing technology, structural engineers are increasingly using PBD for new design and for evaluation or retrofit of existing structures to better predict building performance, provide more economical designs, or address when the prescriptive provisions of the building code just do not apply.