• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 2017

As a new type of energy dissipation component with excellent mechanical performance, the Buckling-Retrained Braces (BRBs) were gradually applied in retrofitting and improving seismic performance of reinforced concrete structures in China. In order to investigate the seismic performance of reinforced concrete structures retrofitted with BRBs, quasi-static test of two single-bay and 3-story reinforced concrete frames specimens was conducted and introduced in this paper. Two 1/2 scaled specimens were designed to reflect real prototype structure. For comparison, one control specimen was designed without BRBs, and the other specimen was retrofitted with BRBs. And particularly, for the specimen retrofitted with BRBs, the BRBs were eccentric layout instead of usually concentric or x-shaped layout, aiming to be more suitable for large-span frames. In the test, the failure mode, carrying capacity, deformability, ductility and energy dissipation ability of both two specimens were investigated. Based on the test results of the measured hysterical curves, skeleton curves, the seismic performances such as bearing capacity, plastic deformability, energy dissipation ability and ductility of two specimens were fully studied. And from the test results, it was indicated that the specimen retrofitted with BRBs showed much better seismic performance than the control specimen without BRBs, and the BRBs could effectively improve the seismic performance of the reinforced concrete frame. For the specimen retrofitted with BRBs, the BRBs firstly yielded before the beam-ends and the column-ends, and an expected yielding process or yielding mechanism as well as good seismic performance was obtained. For the specimens without BRBs, though the beam-ends yielded prior to the column-ends, the seismic performance was much poor than that of the specimen with BRBs.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.39-52
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• 1993

For the lateral-torsional buckling analysis of the thin-walled space frame and circular arch with the unsymmetric cross section, the tangent stiffness matrices are derived by introducing Vlasov's assumption for the thin-walled beam and using the principle of virtual displacement. In the cases of the unrestrained torsion and the restrained torsion, the elastic and geometric stiffness matrices corresponding to semitangential rotation and semitangential moment are evaluated by using the Hermitian polynomials as the shape function. In order to illustrate the accuracy and convergence characteristics of the derived formulations, numerical examples for the lateral-torsional buckling analysis of the hinged circular arch under pure bending and uniform compression are presented and compared with the analytic solutions of references.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.63-75
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• 2020

Substructure pseudo-dynamic hybrid simulation (SPDHS) combining the advantages of physical experiments and numerical simulation has become an important testing method for evaluating the dynamic responses of structures. Various parameter identification methods have been proposed for online model updating. However, if there is large model gap between the assumed numerical models and the real models, the parameter identification methods will cause large prediction errors. This study presents an ANN (artificial neural network) method based on forgetting factor. During the SPDHS of model updating, a dynamic sample window is formed in each loading step with forgetting factor to keep balance between the new samples and historical ones. The effectiveness and anti-noise ability of this method are evaluated by numerical analysis of a six-story frame structure with BRBs (Buckling Restrained Brace). One BRB is simulated in OpenFresco as the experimental substructure, while the rest is modeled in MATLAB. The results show that ANN is able to present more hysteresis behaviors that do not exist in the initial assumed numerical models. It is demonstrated that the proposed method has good adaptability and prediction accuracy of restoring force even under different loading histories.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.343-358
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• 2023

The superelastic viscous damper (SVD) is a hybrid passive control device comprising a viscoelastic damper and shape memory alloy (SMA) cables connected in series. The SVD is an innovative damper through which a large amount of seismic energy can dissipate. The current study assessed the seismic collapse induced by steel moment-resisting frames (SMRFs) equipped with SVDs and compared them with the performance of special MRFs and buckling restrained brace frames (BRBFs). For this purpose, nonlinear dynamic and incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) were conducted in OpenSees software. Both 5- and 9-story special MRFs, BRBFs, and MRFs equipped with the SVDs were examined. The results indicated that the annual exceedance rate for maximum residual drifts of 0.2% and 0.5% for the BRBFs and MRFs with SVDs, respectively, were considerably less than for SMRFs with reduced-beam section (RBS) connections and that the seismic performances of these structures were enhanced with the use of the BRB and SVD. The probability of collapse due to residual drift in the SVD, BRB, and RBS frames in the 9-story structure was 1.45, 1.75, and 1.05 times greater than for the 5-story frame.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.241-254
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• 2020

Using confined shape memory alloy (SMA) bar or plate, this study proposes an innovative self-centering damper. The damper is essentially properly machined SMA core, i.e., bar or plate, that encased in buckling-restrained device. To prove the design concept, cyclic loading tests were carried out. According to the test results, the damper exhibited desired flag-shape hysteretic behaviors upon both tension and compression actions, although asymmetric behavior is noted. Based on the experimental data, the hysteretic parameters that interested by seismic applications, such as the strength, stiffness, equivalent damping ratio and recentering capacity, are quantified. Processed in the Matlab/Simulink environment, a preliminary evaluation of the seismic control effect for this damper was conducted. The proposed damper was placed at the first story of a multi-story frame and then the original and controlled structures were subjected to earthquake excitations. The numerical outcome indicated the damper is effective in controlling seismic deformation demands. Besides, a companion SMA damper which represents a popular type in previous studies is also introduced in the analysis to further reveal the seismic control characteristics of the newly proposed damper. In current case, it was found that although the current SMA damper shows asymmetric tension-compression behavior, it successfully contributes comparable seismic control effect as those having symmetrical cyclic behavior. Additionally, the proposed damper even shows better global performance in controlling acceleration demands. Thus, this paper reduces the concern of using SMA dampers with asymmetric cyclic behavior to a certain degree.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.27-44
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• 2020

This work presents a comparison of three performance-based seismic design methods (PBSD) as applied to plane steel frames having eccentric braces (EBFs) and buckling restrained braces (BRBFs). The first method uses equivalent modal damping ratios (ξ_k), referring to an equivalent multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) linear system, which retains the mass, the elastic stiffness and responds in the same way as the original non-linear MDOF system. The second method employs modal strength reduction factors (${\bar{q}}_k$) resulting from the corresponding modal damping ratios. Contrary to the behavior factors of code based design methods, both ξ_k and ${\bar{q}}_k$ account for the first few modes of significance and incorporate target deformation metrics like inter-storey drift ratio (IDR) and local ductility as well as structural characteristics like structural natural period, and soil types. Explicit empirical expressions of ξ_k and ${\bar{q}}_k$, recently presented by the present authors elsewhere, are also provided here for reasons of completeness and easy reference. The third method, developed here by the authors, is based on a hybrid force/displacement (HFD) seismic design scheme, since it combines the force-base design (FBD) method with the displacement-based design (DBD) method. According to this method, seismic design is accomplished by using a behavior factor (q_h), empirically expressed in terms of the global ductility of the frame, which takes into account both non-structural and structural deformation metrics. These expressions for q_h are obtained through extensive parametric studies involving non-linear dynamic analysis (NLDA) of 98 frames, subjected to 100 far-fault ground motions that correspond to four soil types of Eurocode 8. Furthermore, these factors can be used in conjunction with an elastic acceleration design spectrum for seismic design purposes. Finally, a comparison among the above three seismic design methods and the Eurocode 8 method is conducted with the aid of non-linear dynamic analyses via representative numerical examples, involving plane steel EBFs and BRBFs.