DIRECT USE OF PGV FOR ESTIMATING PEAK NONLINEAR OSCILLATOR DISPLACEMENTS K&Uuml / &Ccedil / &Uuml / KDOGAN, Bilge Recently established approximate methods for estimating the lateral deformation demands on structures are based on the prediction of nonlinear oscillator displacements (Sd,ie). In this study, a predictive model is proposed to estimate the inelastic spectral displacement as a function of peak ground velocity (PGV). Prior to the generation of the proposed model, nonlinear response history analysis is conducted on several building models of wide fundamental period range and hysteretic behavior to observe the performance of selected demands and the chosen ground-motion intensity measures (peak ground acceleration, PGA, peak ground velocity, PGV and elastic pseudo spectral acceleration at the fundamental period (PSa(T1)). Confined to the building models used and ground motion dataset, the correlation studies revealed the superiority of PGV with respect to the other intensity measures while identifying the variation in global deformation demands of structural systems (i.e., maximum roof and maximum interstory drift ratio). This rational is the deriving force for proposing the PGV based prediction model. The proposed model accounts for the variation of Sd,ie for bilinear hysteretic behavior under constant ductility (&micro / ) and normalized strength ratio (R) associated with postyield stiffness ratios of = 0% and = 5%. Confined to the limitations imposed by the ground-motion database, the predictive model can estimate Sd,ie by employing the PGV predictions obtained from the attenuation relationships. This way the influence of important seismological parameters can be incorporated to the variation of Sd,ie in a fairly rationale manner. Various case studies are presented to show the consistent estimations of Sd,ie by the proposed model using the PGV values obtained from recent ground motion prediction equations.