Summary The growing emphasis of considering the behavior of structures at extreme performance states, such as collapse, has necessitated the characterization of the effects of varying attributes of the structural model. One source of variability that has not previously been considered is variability in the mathematical model. This study investigated the effects of changing the geometric nonlinearity approach and damping model on a four‐story buckling restrained braced frame, a four‐story steel moment resisting frame, and an eight‐story steel moment resisting frame. The variations in behavior are quantified using the maximum interstory drift ratio as the performance metric and qualified by comparing the relative displaced shapes and component response histories at the collapse performance state. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The FEMA P-695 Methodology offers a procedure for evaluating the collapse performance of seismic force resisting systems. The Methodology is necessarily complex and analysis-intensive. To manage collapse evaluation data and expedite nonlinear dynamic analyses, a Toolkit was created that streamlines the process using seven graphical user interface modules. The modules step the user through the FEMA P-695 process, culminating in a summary table of the evaluation results. The Toolkit is beneficial for engineers with varying levels of familiarity with the FEMA P-695 process. For those familiar with the process, the Toolkit provides a simple procedure for organizing performance group data and evaluation results while reducing the risk of errors. It also acts as an educational tool for stepping new users through the intricacies of the process. The Toolkit is demonstrated using an example performance group of special reinforced masonry shear wall buildings.

Summary The discussion presents questions regarding the recommended damping scheme from the discussed paper and provides an alternative recommendation. The discussion also requests further explanation on behavioral differences between models incorporating the P‐delta and corotational approaches that are presented in the paper. Responses to these questions are presented. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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