• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.561-580
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• 2020

Buckling restrained braces (BRBs) were developed as an enhanced alternative to conventional braces by restraining their global buckling, thus allowing development of a stable quasi-symmetric hysteretic response. A wider adoption of buckling restrained braced frames is precluded due to proprietary character of most BRBs and the code requirement for experimental qualification. To overcome these problems, BRBs with capacities corresponding to typical steel multi-storey buildings in Romania were developed and experimentally tested in view of prequalification. In the second part of this paper, a complex nonlinear numerical model for the tested BRBs was developed in the finite element environment Abaqus. The calibration of the numerical model was performed at both component (material models: steel, concrete, unbonding material) and member levels (loading, geometrical imperfections). Geometrically and materially nonlinear analyses including imperfections were performed on buckling restrained braces models under cyclic loading. The calibrated models were further used to perform a parametric study aiming at assessing the influence of the strength of the buckling restraining mechanism, concrete class of the infill material, mechanical properties of steel used for the core, self-weight loading, and frame effect on the cyclic response of buckling restrained braces.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.2
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• pp.201-214
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• 2020

This study aims at evaluating composite moment frame structures (CFS) using wavelet analysis of the displacement behavior of these structures. Five seismic damage mitigation systems' models of 9-story CFS are examined namely, basic (Model 1), reinforced (Model 2), buckling restrained braced (BRB) (Model 3), lead rubber bearing (LRB) (Model 4), and composite (Model 5) moment frames. A novel integration between continuous and discrete wavelet transforms is designed to estimate the wavelet power energy and variance of measurements' behaviors. The behaviors of the designed models are evaluated under influence of four seismic loads to study the dynamic performance of CFS in the frequency domain. The results show the behaviors of models 3 and 5 are lower than other models in terms of displacement and frequency performances. Model 3 has been shown lower performances in terms of energy and variance wavelets along the monitoring time; therefore, Model 3 demonstrates superior performance and low probability of failure under seismic loads. Furthermore, the wavelet variance analysis is shown a powerful tool that can be used to assess the CFS under seismic hazards.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.607-627
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• 2013

The application of shape memory alloys (SMAs) to the seismic response reduction of civil engineering structures has attracted growing interest due to their self-centering feature and excellent fatigue performance. The loading rate dependence of SMAs raises a concern in the seismic analysis of SMA-based devices. However, the implementation of micromechanics-based strain-rate-dependent constitutive models in structural analysis software is rather complicated and computationally demanding. This paper investigates the feasibility of replacing complex rate-dependent models with rate-independent constitutive models for superelastic SMA elements in seismic time-history analysis. Three uniaxial constitutive models for superelastic SMAs, including one rate-dependent thermomechanical model and two rate-independent phenomenological models, are considered in this comparative study. The pros and cons of the three nonlinear constitutive models are also discussed. A parametric study of single-degree-of-freedom systems with different initial periods and strength reduction factors is conducted to examine the effect of the three constitutive models on seismic simulations. Additionally, nonlinear time-history analyses of a three-story prototype steel frame building with special SMA-based damping braces are performed. Two suites of seismic records that correspond to frequent and design basis earthquakes are used as base excitations in the seismic analyses of steel-braced frames. The results of this study show that the rate-independent constitutive models, with their parameters properly tuned to dynamic test data, are able to predict the seismic responses of structures with SMA-based seismic response modification devices.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.397-408
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• 2018

In a recent tragic fire incident, the Plasco Tower collapsed after an intense outburst of fire lasting for three and a half hours and claiming the lives of 16 firefighters and 6 civilians. This paper will present continuing collaborative work between Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Queen's University in Canada to model the progressive collapse of the tower. The fire started at the 10th floor and was observed to have travelled along the floor horizontally and through the staircase and windows vertically. Plasco Tower was steel structure and all the steel sections were fabricated by welding standard European channel or angle profiles and no fire protection was applied. Four internal columns carried the loads transferred by the primary beams, and box columns were constructed along the perimeter of the building as a braced tube for resisting seismic loading. OpenSees fibre-based sections and displacement-based beam-column elements are used to model the frames, while shell elements are used for the reinforced concrete floor slabs. The thermal properties and elevated temperature mechanical properties are as recommended in the Eurocodes. The results in this preliminarily analysis are based on rough estimations of the structure's configuration. The ongoing work looks at modeling the Plasco Tower based on the most accurate findings from reviewing many photographs and collected data.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.437-443
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• 2021

In this study, the use of a steel yielding damper is considered as an appropriate method to enhance the behavior of CBFs and a steel damper which is economical and straightforward to construct and replace after a severe earthquake is developed. The proposed damper was investigated experimentally and numerically. In addition, a parametric study was performed to evaluate the effect of the three types of damper mechanisms (shear, shear-flexural, and flexural) on the behavior of the proposed damper. The experimental results, as well as the numerical results, indicate that the shear damper exhibits better performance than the other dampers in terms of strength and stiffness.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.325-337
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• 2022

In this research, an earthquake-resistant structural system consisting of a pin-connected steel frame and a bracing with metallic fuses is proposed. Contrary to the conventional braced frames, the main structural elements are deemed to remain elastic under earthquakes and the seismic energy is efficiently dissipated by the damper-braces with an amplification mechanism. The superiority of the proposed damping system lies in easy manufacture, high yield capacity and energy dissipation, and an effortless replacement of damaged fuses after earthquake events. Furthermore, the stiffness and the yield capacity are almost decoupled in the proposed damper-brace which makes it highly versatile for performance-based seismic design compared to most other dampers. A special attention is paid to derive the theoretical formulation for nonlinear behavior of the proposed damper-brace, which is verified using analytical results. Next, a direct displacement-based design procedure is provided for the proposed system and an example structure is designed and analyzed thoroughly to check its seismic performance. The results show that the proposed system designed with the provided procedure satisfies the given performance objective and can be used for developing highly efficient low-damage structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.2
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• pp.269-283
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• 2022

In this paper, a particular type of all-steel HSS brace members with a locally reduced cross-sectional area was experimentally and numerically investigated. The brace member was strengthened against local buckling with inner and outer boxes in the reduced area. Four single-span braced frames were tested under cyclic lateral loadings. Specimens included a simple steel frame with a conventional box-shaped brace and three other all-steel reduced section buckling-restrained braces. After conducting the experimental program, numerical models of the proposed brace were developed and verified with experimental results. Then the length of the proposed fuse was increased and its effect on the cyclic behavior of the brace was investigated numerically. Eventually, the brace was detailed with a fuse-to-brace length of 30%, as well as the cross-sectional area of the fuse-to-brace of 30%, and the cyclic behavior of the system was studied numerically. The study showed that the proposed brace is stable up to a 2% drift ratio, and the plastic cumulative deformation requirement of AISC (2016) is easily achieved. The proposed brace has sufficient ductility and stability and is lighter, as well as easier to be fabricated, compared to the conventional mortar-filled BRB and all-steel BRB.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 2024

Non-uniform reinforced concrete brace facade systems are newly considered to improve seismic performance of reinforced concrete frame buildings under lateral load. For normal and high strength concrete of 30MPa, 80MPa, and 120MPa, the cross-sections of reinforced concrete brace facade systems were designed as different size with same amount of reinforcements. The strengthened frame systems were analyzed by a non-linear two-dimensional finite element technique which was considering material non-linearities of concrete and reinforcing bars under monotonic and cyclic loadings. From the study of non-linear analysis of the systems, therefore, it was provided that the proposed braced facade systems were reliable to improve laterally load-carrying capacity and minimize damages of concrete members through comparisons of load-displacement curves, crack patterns, and stress distributions of reinforcing bars predicted by current non-linear finite element analysis of frame specimens.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.863-882
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• 2016

This study aims to introduce a new bracing system by which even super-wide frames with large openings can be braced. The proposed system, hereafter called Cable-Pulley Brace (CPB), is a tension-only bracing system with a rectilinear configuration. In CPB, a wire rope passes through a rectilinear path around the opening(s) and connects the lower corner of the frame to its opposite upper one. CPB is a secondary load resisting system with a nonlinear-elastic hysteretic behavior due to its initial pre-tension load. As a result, the required energy dissipation would be provided by the MRF itself, and the main intention of using CPB is to contribute to the initial and post-yield stiffness of the whole system. Using a stiffness calibration technique, optimum placement of the CPBs is discussed to yield a uniform displacement demand along the height of the structure. A displacement-based design procedure is proposed by which the MRF with CPB can be designed to achieve a uniform distribution of inter-story drifts with predefined values. Obtained results indicated that CPB leads to significant reductions in maximum and residual deformations of the MRF at the expense of minor increase in the maximum base shear and developed axial force demands in the columns. In the case of a typical 5-story residential building, compared to SMRF system, CPB system reduces maximum amounts of inter-story and residual drifts by 35% and 70%, respectively. Moreover, openings of the frame are not interrupted by the CPB. This is the most appealing feature of the proposed bracing system from architectural point of view.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.491-506
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• 2014

Buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) have excellent hysteretic behavior while buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) are susceptible to residual lateral deformations. To address this drawback, a novel self-centering (SC) BRB with Basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) composite tendons is presented in this work. The configuration and mechanics of proposed BFRP-SC-BRBs are first discussed. Then an 1840-mm-long BFRP-SC-BRB specimen is fabricated and tested to verify its hysteric and self-centering performance. The tested specimen has an expected flag-shaped hysteresis character, showing a distinct self-centering tendency. During the test, the residual deformation of the specimen is only about 0.6 mm. The gap between anchorage plates and welding ends of bracing tubes performs as expected with the maximum opening value 6 mm when brace is in compression. The OpenSEES software is employed to conduct numerical analysis. Experiment results are used to validate the modeling methodology. Then the proposed numerical model is used to evaluate the influence of initial prestress, tendon diameter and core plate thickness on the performance of BFRP-SC-BRBs. Results show that both the increase of initial prestress and tendon diameters can obviously improve the self-centering effect of BFRP-SC-BRBs. With the increase of core plate thickness, the energy dissipation is improved while the residual deformation is generated when the core plate strength exceeds initial prestress force.