The bilinear elastic model exhibits a a bilinear response with a defined yielding displacement and strength beyond which the stiffness is degraded, similar to the bilinear plastic model. The main difference however is that the bilinear elastic model is fully "elastic", and fully retraces its backbone curve upon unloading. This means that the model does not have any residual displacement and does not dissipate energy.

The bilinear elastic model is often used as an idealization for systems which exhibit nonlinear behavior without significant energy dissipation, such as rocking behavior. In that respect, the bilinear elastic model is a highly idealized system. The bilinear flag model, represents a compromise between the bilinear model, which exhibits full cycles with maximum energy dissipation and the bilinear elastic model which exhibits full self-centering behavior with no energy dissipation.

Figure 31: Hysteresis Behavior for the Bilinear Elastic Model