• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.1215-1240
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• 2015

In this paper, the Theory of Plastic Mechanism Control (TPMC) is applied to the seismic design of dual systems composed by moment-resisting frames and Chevron braced frames. The application of TPMC is aimed at the design of dual systems able to guarantee, under seismic horizontal forces, the development of a collapse mechanism of global type. This design goal is of primary importance in seismic design of structures, because partial failure modes and soft-storey mechanisms have to be absolutely prevented due to the worsening of the energy dissipation capacity of structures and the resulting increase of the probability of failure during severe ground motions. With reference to the examined structural typology, diagonal and beam sections are assumed to be known quantities, because they are, respectively, designed to withstand the whole seismic actions and to withstand vertical loads and the net downward force resulting from the unbalanced axial forces acting in the diagonals. Conversely column sections are designed to assure the yielding of all the beam ends of moment-frames and the yielding and the buckling of tensile and compressed diagonals of the V-Braced part, respectively. In this work, a detailed designed example dealing with the application of TPMC to moment frame-chevron brace dual systems is provided with reference to an eight storey scheme and the design procedure is validated by means of non-linear static analyses aimed to check the actual pattern of yielding. The results of push-over analyses are compared with those obtained for the dual system designed according to Eurocode 8 provisions.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.35-44
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• 2008

A self-centering energy-dissipative(SCED) bracing system has recently been developed as a new seismic force resistant bracing system. The advantage of the SCED brace system is that, unlike other comparable advanced bracing systems that dissipate energy such as the buckling restrained brace(BRB) system, it has a self-centering capability that reduces or eliminates residual building deformations after major seismic events. In order to investigate the effects of torsion on the SCED brace and BRB systems, nonlinear time history analyses were used to compare the responses of 3D model structures with three different amounts of frame eccentricity. The results of the analysis showed that the interstory drifts of SCED braced frames are more uniform than those of BRB frames, without regard to irregularity. The residual drift and residual rotation responses tended to decrease as irregularity increased. For medium-rise structures, the drift concentration factors(DCFs) for SCED systems were lower than those for BRB frames. This means that SCED-braced frames deform in a more uniform manner with respect to building height. The effect of the torsional irregularity on the magnitude of the DCFs was small.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.309-318
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• 2018

Buckling Restrained Braced (BRB) frames have been widely used as an efficient seismic load resisting system in recent years mostly due to their symmetric and stable hysteretic behavior and significant energy dissipation capacity. In this study, to provide a better understanding of the behavior of BRB frames with various beam-column connections, a numerical study using non-linear finite element (FE) analysis is conducted. All models are implemented in the Abaqus software package following an explicit formulation. Initially, the results of the FE model are verified with experimental data. Then, diverse beam-column connections are modeled for the sake of comparison from the shear capacity, energy dissipation and frame hysteresis behavior points of view until appropriate performance is assessed. The considered connections are divided into three different categories: (1) simple beam-column connections including connection by web angle and connection by seat angle; (2) semi-rigid connection including connection by web and seat angles; and (3) rigid beam-column connections by upper-lower beam plates and beam connections with web and flange splices. Results of the non-linear FE analyses show that these types of beam-column connections have little effect on the maximum story drift and shear capacity of BRB frames. However, the connection type has a significant effect on the amount of energy dissipation and hysteresis behavior of BRB frames. Also, changes in length and thickness of the angles in simple and semi-rigid connections and changes in length and thickness of plates in rigid connections have slight effects (less than 4%) on the overall frame behavior.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.317-331
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• 2023

The buckling-restrained braced frames with eccentric configurations (BRBFECs) are stable cyclic behavior and high energy absorption capacity. Furthermore, they have an architectural advantage for creating openings like eccentrically braced frames (EBFs). In the present study, it has been suggested to use the performance-based plastic design (PBPD) method to calculate the design base shear of the BRBFEC systems. Moreover, in this study, to reduce the required steel material, it has been suggested to use the performance-based practical design (PBPD) method instead of the force-based design (FBD) method for the design of this system. The 3-, 6-, and 9-story buildings with the BRBFEC system were designed, and the finite element models were modeled. The seismic performance of the models was investigated using two suits of ground motions representing the maximum considered earthquake (MCE) and design basis earthquake (DBE) seismic hazard levels. The results showed that the models designed with the suggested method, which had lower weights compared to those designed with the FBD method, had a desirable seismic performance in terms of maximum story drift and ductility demand under earthquakes at both MCE and DBE seismic hazard levels. This suggests that the steel weights of the structures designed with the PBPD method are about 13% to 18% lesser than the FBD method. However, the residual drifts in these models were higher than those in the models designed with the FBD method. Also, in earthquakes at the DBE hazard level, the residual drifts in all models except the PBPD-6s and PBPD-9s models were less than the allowable reparability limit.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.173-190
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• 2015

This study presents an analytical investigation on the seismic response of a medium-rise buckling-restrained braced frame (BRBF) under the near-fault ground motions. A seven-story BRBF is designed as per the current code provisions for five different combinations of brace configurations and beam-column connections. Two types of brace configurations (i.e., Chevron and Double-X) are considered along with a combination of the moment-resisting and the non-moment-resisting beam-to-column connections for the study frame. Nonlinear dynamic analyses are carried out for all study frames for an ensemble of forty SAC near-fault ground motions. The main parameters evaluated are the interstory and residual drift response, brace displacement ductility, and plastic hinge mechanisms. Fragility curves are developed using log-normal probability density functions for all study frames considering the interstory drift ratio and residual drift ratio as the damage parameters. The average interstory drift response of BRBFs with Double-X brace configurations significantly exceeded the allowable drift limit of 2%. The maximum displacement ductility characteristics of BRBs is efficiently utilized under the seismic loading if these braces are arranged in the Double-X configurations instead of Chevron configurations in BRBFs located in the near-fault regions. However, BRBFs with the Double-X brace configurations exhibit the higher interstory drift and residual drift response under near-fault ground motions due to the formation of plastic hinges in the columns and beams at the intermediate story levels.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.621-632
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• 2018

Soft-story buildings have bottom stories much less rigid than the top stories and are susceptible to earthquake damage. Therefore, the seismic design specifications need strict design considerations in such cases. In this paper, a four-story building was investigated as a case study and the effects of X-braces elimination in its lower stories studied. In addition, the possibility of replacement of the X-braces in soft-stories with equivalent moment resisting frame inspected in two different phases. In first phase, the stiffness of X-braces and equivalent moment-resisting frames evaluated using classic equations. In final phase, diagonals removed from the lowest story to develop a soft-story and replaced with moment resisting frames. Then, the seismic stiffness variation of moment-resisting frame evaluated using nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. The results show that substitution of braced frames with an equivalent moment-resisting frame of the same stiffness increases story drift and reduces energy absorption capacity. However, it is enough to consider the needs of building codes, even using equivalent moment resisting frame instead of X-Braces, to avoid soft-story stiffness irregularity in seismic design of buildings. Besides, soft-story development in the second story may be more critical under strong ground excitations, because of interaction of adjacent stories.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.555-562
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• 2016

Seismic design of braced frames that simultaneously considers economic issues and structural performance represents a rather complicated engineering problem, and therefore, a systematic and well-established methodology is needed. This study proposes a multi-objective seismic design method for an inverted V-braced frame with suspended zipper struts that uses the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II(NSGA-II). The structural weight and the maximum inter-story drift ratio as the objective functions are simultaneously minimized to optimize the cost and seismic performance of the structure. To investigate which of strength- and performance-based design criteria for braced frames is the critical design condition, the constraint conditions on the two design methods are simultaneously considered (i.e. the constraint conditions based on the strength and plastic deformation of members). The linear static analysis method and the nonlinear static analysis method are adopted to check the strength- and plastic deformation-based design constraints, respectively. The proposed optimal method are applied to three- and six-story steel frame examples, and the solutions improved for the considered objective functions were found.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.4 s.65
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• pp.379-388
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• 2003

The response of single story buildings and other case studies were investigated to observe trends and develop a better understanding of the impact of some design parameters on the seismic response of Concentrically Braced Frames (CBF). While many parameters are known to influence the behavior of braced frames, the focus of this study was mostly on quantifying energy dissipation in compression and its effectiveness on seismic performance. Based on dynamic analyses of single story braced frame and case studies, a bracing member designed with bigger R and larger KL/r was found to result in lower normalized cumulative energy ratio in both cases.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.233-267
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• 2018

Conventional seismic design of concentrically braced frame (CBF) structures suggests that the gusset plate connecting a steel brace to beams and/or columns should be designed as non-dissipative in earthquakes, while the steel brace members should be designed as dissipative elements. These design intentions lead to thicker and larger gusset plates in design on one hand and a potentially under-rated contribution of gusset plates in design, on the other hand. In contrast, research has shown that compact and thinner gusset plates designed in accordance with the elliptical clearance method rather than the conventional standard linear clearance method can enhance system ductility and energy dissipation capacity in concentrically braced steel frames. In order to assess the two design methods, six cyclic push-over tests on full scale models of concentric braced steel frame structures were conducted. Furthermore, a 3D finite element (FE) shell model, incorporating state-of-the-art tools and techniques in numerical simulation, was developed that successfully replicates the response of gusset plate and bracing members under fully reversed cyclic axial loading. Direct measurements from strain gauges applied to the physical models were used primarily to validate FE models, while comparisons of hysteresis load-displacement loops from physical and numerical models were used to highlight the overall performance of the FE models. The study shows the two design methods attain structural response as per the design intentions; however, the elliptical clearance method has a superiority over the standard linear method as a fact of improving detailing of the gusset plates, enhancing resisting capacity and improving deformability of a CBF structure. Considerations were proposed for improvement of guidelines for detailing gusset plates and bracing members in CBF structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.1407-1433
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• 2015

The objections raised by researchers to the design provisions reported in Eurocode 8 make the efficient seismic performance of the eccentrically braced structures designed according to this code unlikely. Given the rationality and the number of the objections, this paper aims to summarize the criticism of researchers and report the opinion of the Authors. The objections raised to the design procedure of eccentrically braced structures regard aspects common to the design of steel structures and aspects specifically related to the design of eccentrically braced structures. The significance of these objections is also shown by means of exemplary cases.