• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.549-558
• /
• 2014

Buckling restrained braces(BRBs) developed as a seismic protection element, hysteretic damper, have been investigated in America and Japan mainly. BRBs are composed of a steel core and concrete-filled steel casing. It is one of the major causes of drop in productivity to fill the steel casing with concrete. To improve this problem, the BRB is introduced in which the steel core is restrained with a pair of semicircular springs. In this paper, the numerical and analytical investigation about the desirable configuration for a semicircular spring is presented. Firstly, the stiffness and strength of semicircular spring is determined theoretically to buckle into a very high-order modes. Then, the required stiffness and strength are calculated under the practical design conditions and considered as reference values to find a proper configuration. The material strength and thickness of semicircular spring are chose from the finite element analysis for 5 semicircular springs with varying height. Finally, the nonlinear buckling analysis of BRB with proper semicircular springs shows that the bucking strength of the whole BRB is very similar to the strength of steel core with length between semicircular springs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.261-271
• /
• 2015

Steel concentrically braced frame is an efficient system that can acquire resistance against the lateral force of buildings with the least amount of quantity. In this study is intended to proceed on the research of schemes for reinforcement by supplementing previously installed H-formed brace with non-welded cold-formed plastic stiffening materials restricting the flexure and buckling and acquire a consistent strength on the tensile and compressive force. As for the measures of supplementing previously-installed inverted V-formed braced frame, stiffening materials in the previous studies were converted to weak-axial supplementing materials to suggest a specific scheme evaluating the structural function through an experiment of members, interpretation of members, and frame-focused experiment. Reinforced brace satisfied the requirement to be prevent AISC brace from being ruptured due to imbalanced strength in the beam.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.1581-1598
• /
• 2015

A concentric braced steel frame is a very efficient structural system because it requires relatively smaller amount of materials to resist lateral forces. However, primarily developed as a structural system to resist wind loads based on an assumption that the structure behaves elastically, a concentric braced frame possibly experiences the deterioration in energy dissipation after brace buckling and the brittle failure of braces and connections when earthquake loads cause inelastic behavior. Consequently, plastic deformation is concentrated in the floor where brace buckling occurs first, which can lead to the rupture of the structure. This study suggests reinforcing H-shaped braces with non-welded cold-formed stiffeners to restrain flexure and buckling and resist tensile force and compressive force equally. Weak-axis reinforcing members (2 pieces) developed from those suggested in previous studies (4 pieces) were used to reinforce the H-shaped braces in an inverted V-type braced frame. Monotonic loading tests, finite element analysis and cyclic loading tests were carried out to evaluate the structural performance of the reinforced braces and frames. The reinforced braces satisfied the AISC requirement. The reinforcement suggested in this study is expected to prevent the rupture of beams caused by the unbalanced resistance of the braces.

• Advances in Computational Design
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.17-34
• /
• 2018

Tall buildings are categorized as important structures because of the large number of occupants and high construction costs. The choice of competent lateral load resisting systems in tall buildings is of crucial importance. Bracing systems have long been an economic and effective method for resisting lateral loads in steel structures. However, there are some potential adverse aspects to bracing systems such as the limitations they inflict on architectural plans, uplift forces and poor performances in compression. in order to eliminate the mentioned problems and for cost optimization, in this paper, six 20-story steel buildings and frames with different types of bracing, i.e., conventional, mega-scale and buckling-restrained bracing (BRB) were analyzed. Linear and modal push-over analyses were carried out. The results pointed out that Mega-Scale Bracing (MSB) system has significant superiority over the conventional bracing type. The MSB system is 25% more economic. Some other advantages of MSB include: up to 63% less drift ratio, up to 38% better performance in lateral displacement, up to 100% stiffer stories, and about 50% smaller uplift forces. Moreover, MSB equipped with BRB attests even a better seismic behavior in the aforementioned parameters.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.417-433
• /
• 2023

The maximum ductility and cumulative ductility of connection joints of Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames (BRBF) are critical to the structural overall performance, which should be matched with the BRB ductility. The two-story and one-span BRBF with a one-third scale was tested under cyclic quasi-static loading, and the top-flange beam splice (TFBS) rotational connections were proposed and adopted in BRBF. The deformation capacity of TFBS connections was observed during the test, and the relationship between structural global ductility and local connection ductility was studied. The rotational capacity of the beam-column connections and the stability performance of the BRBs are highly relevant to the structural overall performance. The hysteretic curves of BRBF are stable and full under large displacement demand imposed up to 2% story drift, and energy is dissipated as the large plastic deformation developed in the structural components. The BRBs acted as fuses and yielded first, and the cumulative plastic ductility (CPD) of BRBs is 972.6 of the second floor and 439.7 of the first floor, indicating the excellent energy dissipation capacity of BRBs. Structural members with good local ductility ensure the large global ductility of BRBF. The ductile capacity and hysteretic behavior of BRBF with TFBS connections were compared with those of BRBF with Reduced Beam Section (RBS) connections in terms of the experimental results.

• Advances in nano research
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.323-333
• /
• 2020

In recent years, there has been an upsurge for the usage of buckling restrained braces (BRB) rather than ordinary braces, as they have evidently performed better. If the overall brace buckling is ignored, BRBs are proven to have higher energy absorption capacity and flexibility. This article aims to deliberate an economically efficient yet adequate type of all-steel BRB, comprised of the main components as in traditional ones, such as : (1) a steel core that holds all axial forces and (2) a steel restrainer tube that hinders buckling to occurr in the core; there is a more practical detailing in the BRB system due to the elimination of a filling mortar. An investigation has been conducted for the proposed rectangular-tube core BRB and it is hysteric behavioral results have been compared to previous researches conducted on a structure containing a similar plate core profile that has the same cross-sectional area in its core. A loss of strength is known to occur in the BRB when the limiting condition of local buckling is not satisfied, thus causing instability. This typically occurs when the thickness of the restrainer tube's wall is smaller than the cross-sectional area of the core plate or its width. In this study, a parametric investigation for BRBs with different formations has been performed to verify the effect of the design parameters such as different core section profiles, restraining member width to thickness ratio and relative cross-sectional area of the core to restrainer, on buckling load evaluation. The proposed BRB investigation results have also been presented and compared to past BRB researches with a plate profile as the core section, and the advantages and disadvantages of this configuration have been discussed, and it is concluded that BRBs with tubular core section exhibit a better seismic performance than the ones with a plate core profile.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.45 no.5
• /
• pp.683-695
• /
• 2022

Conventional braces are often used to provide stiffness to structures; however due to buckling they cannot be used as seismic energy dissipating elements. In this study, a seismic energy dissipation device is proposed which is comprised of a bracing member and a steel hysteretic damper made of steel hexagonal plates. The hexagonal shaped designated fuse causes formation of plastic hinges under axial deformation of the brace. The main advantages of this damper compared to conventional metallic dampers and buckling-restrained braces are the stable and controlled energy dissipation capability with ease of manufacture. The mechanical behavior of the damper is formulated first and a design procedure is provided. Next, the theoretical formulation and the efficiency of the damper are verified using finite element (FE) analyses. An analytical model of the damper is established and its efficiency is further investigated by applying it to seismic retrofit of a case study structure. The seismic performance of the structure is evaluated before and after retrofit in terms of maximum interstory drift ratio, top story displacement, residual displacement, and energy dissipation of dampers. Overall, the median of maximum interstory drift ratios is reduced from 3.8% to 1.6% and the residual displacement decreased in the x-direction which corresponds to the predominant mode shape of the structure. The analysis results show that the developed damper can provide cost-effective seismic protection of structures.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2016

The 1100 foot [335 m] tall Wilshire Grand Center tower under construction in Los Angeles illustrates many key outrigger issues. The tower has a long, narrow floor plan and slender central core. Outrigger braces at three groups of levels in the tower help provide for occupant comfort during windy conditions as well as safety during earthquakes. Because outrigger systems are outside the scope of prescriptive code provisions, Performance Based Design (PBD) using Nonlinear Response History Analysis (NRHA) demonstrated acceptability to the Los Angeles building department and its peer review panel. Buckling Restrained Brace (BRB) diagonals are used at all outrigger levels to provide stable cyclic nonlinear behavior and to limit forces generated at columns, connections and core walls. Each diagonal at the lowest set of outriggers includes four individual BRBs to provide exceptional capacities. The middle outriggers have an unusual 'X-braced Vierendeel' configuration to provide clear hotel corridors. The top outriggers are pre-loaded by jacks to address long-term differential shortening between the concrete core and concrete-filled steel perimeter box columns. The outrigger connection details are complex in order to handle large forces and deformations, but were developed with contractor input to enable practical construction.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.509-516
• /
• 2010

In this study a seismic retrofit scheme for the reinforced concrete moment framed structures was investigated using steel bracing and moment frames. The analysis model structure is a 3-story 3-bay moment frame structure designed only for gravity load. The stress/strain concentration in brace-RC frame connection was investigated using finite element analysis. To prevent premature joint failure, steel moment frames were placed inside of middle bay of the RC frame. Two types of braces, steel braces and buckling restrained braces(BRBs), were used for retrofit, and the ductility and the strength of the structure before and after the retrofit were compared using nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. According to the analysis results, the strength and ductility of the structure retrofitted by the moment frames and braces increased significantly. The added steel frame did not contribute significantly to the increase of lateral strength mainly because the size is relatively small.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.83-91
• /
• 2009

Buckling Restrained Braces (BRBs) show good seismic behavior. They do not dissipate energy, however, when they are subjected to minor earthquakes or wind. Hybrid Buckling Restrained Braces (H-BRBs), which can improve the wind performance of the BRB system, are a kind of hybrid damper system composed of a viscoelastic damper and BRBs. In this paper, two H-BRB specimens with different cores were experimentally investigated to ensure the structural behavior of the H-BRB system in an elastic range. The axial deformation of the primary resisting system was compared with that of the secondary resisting system, and the equivalent damping ratio of the H-BRBs was estimated. It was concluded that H-BRBs with double shear dampers show good structural behavior and are applicable to tall buildings, to improve the building performance at a comfortable level.