• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.9 no.1 s.30
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• pp.95-105
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• 1997

Structures subjected to strong seismic excitation may undergo inelastic deformation cycles. The resulting cumulative fatigue damage process reduces the ability of structures and components to withstand seismic loads. Yet, the present earthquake resistance design methods focus mainly on the maximum displacement ductility, ignoring the effect of the cyclic responses. The damage parameters closely related to the cumulative damage need to be properly reflected on the aseismic design methods. In this study, two cumulative damage assessment methods derived from the plastic fatigue theory are investigated. The one is based on the hysteretic ductility amplitude, and the other is based on the dissipated hysteretic energy. Both methods can consider the maximum ductility and the cyclic behavior of structural response. The validity of two damage methods has been examined for single degree of freedom structures with various natural frequencies against two different earthquake excitations.