  In this paper we present PMAS optical (3800-7200A) IFS of the northern
hemisphere portion of a volume-limited sample of 11 LIRGs. The PMAS
observations typically cover the central ~5kpc and are complemented with
HST/NICMOS images. For most LIRGs in our sample, the peaks of the continuum and
gas (e.g., Halpha, [NII]) emissions coincide, unlike what is observed in local,
strongly interacting ULIRGs. The only exceptions are galaxies with
circumnuclear rings of star formation where the most luminous Halpha emitting
regions are found in the rings rather than in the nuclei, and the displacements
are well understood in terms of differences in the stellar populations. A large
fraction of the nuclei of these LIRGs are classified as LINER and intermediate
LINER/HII, or composite objects. The excitation conditions of the integrated
emission depend on the relative contributions of HII regions and the diffuse
emission to the line emission over the PMAS FoV. Galaxies dominated by high
surface-brightness HII regions show integrated HII-like excitation. A few
galaxies show slightly larger integrated [NII]/Halpha and [SII]/Halpha line
ratios than the nuclear ones, probably because of more contribution from the
diffuse emission. The Halpha velocity fields over the central few kpc are
generally consistent, at least to first order, with rotational motions. The
velocity fields of most LIRGs are similar to those of disk galaxies, in
contrast to the highly perturbed fields of most local, strongly interacting
ULIRGs. The peak of the Halpha velocity dispersion coincides with the position
of the nucleus and is likely to be tracing mass. All these results are similar
to the properties of z~1 LIRGs, and they highlight the importance of detailed
studies of flux-limited samples of local LIRGs. (Abridged)
