A probabilistic method is proposed to quantify peak component acceleration (PCA) demands for nonstructural components attached to elastic and inelastic structures. Incremental dynamic analyses and site-specific ground-motion hazard information are used to estimate PCA hazard curves and component uniform hazard spectra (CUHS) based on various structural and nonstructural parameters. For a given structural system, the primary parameters of interest are the location of the component within the structure, the ratio of the period of the component to the modal periods of the primary structure, and the component damping ratio. Representative results for shear wall structures illustrate the value of applying the method to acceleration-sensitive components, as the quantification of CUHS facilitates the implementation of performance-based design and evaluation approaches. The variability in the component responses presented highlights the need for a robust probabilistic seismic demand estimation methodology for nonstructural components in which the major sources of variability are incorporated.
