Abstract: The basic principles and processes of pushover analysis are introduced.Some crucial aspects,including lateral load distribution,converting MDOF system into SDOF system,and solving the problem of target displacement with the capacity spectrum method,are discussed in detail.One twelve-story reinforced concrete frame structure is analyzed by the method of pushover analysis.The method has been proved to be effective for the evaluation structure performance.

Key words: Pushover analysis; capacity spectrum; demand spectrum; lateral force distribution;