Abstract:With the development of performance-based design methodologies, the research of displacement response spectra is gradually becoming more important. For the isolated structure with long period, the displacement response is more significant than that of the acceleration response, which makes it necessary to study the displacement response spectra. According to the rule of the specific earthquake mechanism, site conditions, epicentral distance, and magnitude, 60 earthquake records are selected as the external incentive. MATLAB software is used to script a program for the displacement response spectra; the result of displacement response spectra is derived from the program and compared with the spectra given by the codes, and some inherent problems are discussed when the spectra given by the codes is used to predict the displacement demand on the isolated structure. Research results show that for the inelastic displacement response spectra of the isolated structure, including the ascending segment, the stable segment, and the horizontal segment four stage with the prolonging of the natural vibration period, the displacement response spectra derived from the spectra given by the Chinese seismic code is significantly different in spectral shape and amplitude. The displacement response spectra proposed by Eurocode8 has similar shape to the isolated structure, which can better describe the change trend, but the peak value of the displacement spectra is larger than the actual calculated value. So, the characteristics of the displacement response spectral shapes and amplitudes are thoroughly researched according to the result calculated by MATLAB, the influence of factors like the yield displacement (Xy) and yield stiffness ratio (α) of the seismic isolation bearing, ground motion intensity parameters on the displacement response spectra are considered. Based on the obtained results, an updated formulation for the inelastic displacement design spectrum of an isolated structure is proposed, which can be used to predict the displacement demand of the isolation layer and to determine the type of bearing; thus, simplifying the design process.