The nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete structural members and the deformation-based damage limits defined in TBDY (2018) were investigated. In this study, firstly; the effect of cross-section geometry, material model and axial load level on the behavior of reinforced concrete structural members were calculated analytically. By utilizing nonlinear relationships, deformation damage limits and plastic hinge properties defined in TBDY (2018) were calculated analytically. A detailed study was conducted by performing nonlinear (pushover) analyzes of reinforced concrete structures designed depending on the deformation upper limit values obtained from the analytical study results. Structural performance of the models designed for performance evaluation have been examined under the design earthquake loads and the greatest earthquake loads. The capacity curves and the earthquake demand at the performance points of designed different types of reinforced concrete systems which is obtained from the pushover results analysis were compared. With the increase in tensile reinforcement ratio in beams and axial load levels in columns, the maximum moment capacity of the sections and the plastic hinge yielding rotation increase, ductility and plastic rotation values for different performance levels decrease. More earthquake loads and shear forces affect the Type 1 building compared to the Type 2 building. Compared to Type 1 building, more base- shear force and lateral displacement values were obtained in Type 2 building. Linear elastic spectral displacement values of the first mode were obtained more in Type 2 building compared to Type 1 building. More plastic rotations occur in beams and columns of Type 2 buildings than Type 1 buildings. More moments occur in the ground floor columns and beams in Type 1 building compared to a Type 2 building. When the results obtained are examined, it is seen that all ground floor column and beam elements of both types of buildings are in the controlled damage performance level.