• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제1권4호
• /
• pp.327-344
• /
• 2010

This paper summarizes results of a comprehensive analytical study aimed at evaluating the influence of strong ground motion duration on residual displacement demands of single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) and multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) systems. For that purpose, two sets of 20 earthquake ground motions representative of short-duration and long-duration records were considered in this investigation. While the influence of strong ground motion duration was evaluated through constant-strength residual displacement ratios, $C_r$, computed from the nonlinear response of elastoplastic SDOF systems, its effect on the amplitude and height-wise distribution of residual drift demands in MDOF systems was studied from the response of three one-bay two-dimensional generic frame models. In this investigation, an inelastic ground motion intensity measure was employed to scale each record, which allowed reducing the record-to-record variability in the estimation of residual drift demands. From the results obtained in this study, it was found that long strong-motion duration records might trigger larger median $C_r$ ratios for SDOF systems having short-to-medium period of vibration than short strong-motion duration records. However, taking into account the large record-to-record variability of $C_r$, it was found that strong motion duration might not be statistically significant for most of the combinations of period of vibration and levels of lateral strength considered in this study. In addition, strong motion duration does not have a significant influence on the amplitude of peak residual drift demands in MDOF systems, but records having long strong-motion duration tend to increase residual drift demands in the upper stories of long-period generic frames.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제12권4호
• /
• pp.469-478
• /
• 2017

This paper summarizes estimated seismic response results from three-dimensional nonlinear inelastic time-history analyses of some steel buckling-restrained braced (BRB) structures taking into account soil-structure interaction (SSI). The response results involve mean values for peak interstorey drift ratios, peak interstorey residual drift ratios and peak floor accelerations. Moreover, mean seismic demands in terms of axial force and rotation in columns, of axial and shear forces and bending moment in BRB beams and of axial displacement in BRBs are also discussed. For comparison purposes, three separate configurations of the BRBs have been considered and the aforementioned seismic response and demands results have been obtained firstly by considering SSI effects and then by neglecting them. It is concluded that SSI, when considered, may lead to larger interstorey and residual interstorey drifts than when not. These drifts did not cause failure of columns and of the BRBs. However, the BRB beam may fail due to flexure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제16권1호
• /
• pp.69-82
• /
• 2019

As the residual displacement and/or drift demands are commonly used for seismic assessment of buildings, the estimation of these values play a very critical role through earthquake design philosophy. The residual displacement estimation of fixed base structures has been the topic of numerous researches up to now, but the effect of soil flexibility is almost always omitted. In this study, residual displacement demands are investigated for SDOF systems with period range of 0.1-3.0 s for near-field and far-field ground motions for both fixed and interacting cases. The elastoplastic model is used to represent non-degrading structures. Based on time history analyses, a new simple yet effective equation is proposed for residual displacement demand of any system whether fixed base or interacting as a function of structural period, lateral strength ratio and spectral displacement.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• 제23권3호
• /
• pp.285-302
• /
• 2017

Buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) are commonly used as the lateral force-resisting systems in building structures in the seismic regions. The nearly-symmetric hysteretic response and the delayed brace core fracture of buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) under the axial cyclic loading provide the adequate lateral force and deformation capacity to BRBFs under the earthquake excitation. However, the smaller axial stiffness of BRBs result in the undesirable higher residual drift response of BRBFs in the post-earthquake scenario. Two alternative approaches are investigated in this study to improve the elastic axial stiffness of BRBs, namely, (i) by shortening the yielding cores of BRBs; and (ii) by reducing the BRB assemblies and adding the elastic brace segments in series. In order to obtain the limiting yielding core lengths of BRBs, a modified approach based on Coffin-Manson relationship and the higher mode compression buckling criteria has been proposed in this study. Both non-linear static and dynamic analyses are carried out to analytically evaluate the seismic response of BRBFs fitted with short-core BRBs of two medium-rise building frames. Analysis results showed that the proposed brace systems are effective in reducing the inter-story and residual drift response of braced frames without any significant change in the story shear and the displacement ductility demands.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제8권6호
• /
• pp.1277-1297
• /
• 2015

Post-tensioned precast segmental bridge columns have shown high level of strength and ductility, and low residual displacement, which makes them suffer minor damage after earthquake loading; however, there is still lack of confidence on their lateral response against severe seismic loading due in part to their low energy dissipation capacity. This study investigates the influence of major design factors such as post-tensioning force level, strands position, columns aspect ratio, steel jacket and mild steel ratio on seismic performance of self-centring segmental bridge columns in terms of lateral strength, residual displacement and lateral peak displacement. Seismic analyses show that increasing the continuous mild steel ratio improves the lateral peak displacement of the self-centring columns at different levels of post-tensioning (PT) forces. Such an increase in steel ratio reduces the residual drift in segmental columns with higher aspect ratio more considerably. Suggestions are proposed for the design of self-centring segmental columns with various aspect ratios at different target drifts.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• 제21권4호
• /
• pp.863-882
• /
• 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.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제16권5호
• /
• pp.589-599
• /
• 2019

Conventional buckling restrained braces used in concentrically braced frames are expected to yield in both tension and compression without major degradation of capacity under severe seismic ground motions. One of the weakness points of a standard buckling restrained braced frame is the low post-yield stiffness and thus large residual deformation under moderate to severe ground motions. This phenomenon can be attributed to low post-yield stiffness of core member in a BRB. This paper introduces a multi-core buckling restrained brace. The multi-core term arises from the use of more than one core component with different steel materials, including high-performance steel (HPS-70W) and stainless steel (304L) with high strain hardening properties. Nonlinear dynamic time history analyses were conducted on variety of diagonally braced frames with different heights, in order to compare the seismic performance of regular and multi-core buckling restrained braced frames. The results exhibited that the proposed multi-core buckling restrained braces reduce inter-story and especially residual drift demands in BRBFs. In addition, the results of seismic fragility analysis designated that the probability of exceedance of residual drifts in multi-core buckling restrained braced frames is significantly lower in comparison to standard BRBFs.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제12권1호
• /
• pp.109-118
• /
• 2017

A novel post-tensioned self-centering (SC) concrete beam-column connection with web friction devices has been proposed for concrete moment-resisting frames. This paper presents a probabilistic performance evaluation procedure to evaluate the performance of the self-centering concrete frame with the proposed post-tensioned beam-column connections. Two performance limit states, i.e., immediate occupancy (IO) and repairable (RE) limit states, are defined based on peak and residual story drift ratios. Statistical analyses of seismic demands revealed that the dispersion of residual drifts is larger than that of peak drifts. Due to self-centering feature of post-tensioning connections, the SC frame was found to have high probabilities to be recentered under the design basis earthquake (DBE) and maximum considered earthquake (MCE) ground motions. Seismic risk analysis was performed to determine the annual (50-year) probability of exceedance for IO and RE performance limit states, and the results revealed that the design objectives of the SC frame would be met under the proposed performance-based design approach.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• 제21권4호
• /
• pp.479-491
• /
• 2018

Shape memory alloys (SMA) exhibit superelasticity which refers to the capability of entirely recovering large deformation upon removal of applied forces and dissipating input energy during the cyclic loading reversals when the environment is above the austenite finish temperature. This property is increasingly favored by the earthquake engineering community, which is currently developing resilient structures with prompt recovery and affordable repair cost after earthquakes. Compared with the other SMAs, NiTi SMAs are widely deemed as the most promising candidate in earthquake engineering. This paper contributes to evaluate the seismic performance of properly designed concentrically braced frames (CBFs) equipped with NiTi SMA braces under earthquake ground motions corresponding to frequently-occurred, design-basis and maximum-considered earthquakes. An ad hoc seismic design approach that was previously developed for structures with idealized SMAs was introduced to size the building members, by explicitly considering the strain hardening characteristics of NiTi SMA particularly. The design procedure was conducted to compliant with a suite of ground motions associated with the hazard level of design-basis earthquake. A total of four six-story CBFs were designed by setting different ductility demands for SMA braces while designating with a same interstory drift target for the structural systems. The analytical results show that all the designed frames successfully met the prescribed seismic performance objectives, including targeted maximum interstory drift, uniform deformation demand over building height, eliminated residual deformation, controlled floor acceleration, and slight damage in the main frame. In addition, this study indicates that the strain hardening behavior does not necessarily impose undesirable impact on the global seismic performance of CBFs with SMA braces.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제69권3호
• /
• pp.243-255
• /
• 2019

Utilization of fiber beam-column element has gained considerable attention in recent years due mainly to its ability to model distributed plasticity over the length of the element through a number of integration points. However, the relatively high sensitivity of the method to modeling parameters as well as material behavior models can pose a significant challenge. Residual drift is one of the seismic demands which is highly sensitive to modeling parameters and material behavior models. Permanent deformations play a prominent role in the post-earthquake evaluation of serviceability of bridges affected by a near-fault ground shaking. In this research, the influence of distributed plasticity modeling parameters using both force-based and displacement-based fiber elements in the prediction of internal forces obtained from the nonlinear static analysis is studied. Having chosen suitable type and size of elements and number of integration points, the authors take the next step by investigating the influence of material behavioral model employed for the prediction of permanent deformations in the nonlinear dynamic analysis. The result shows that the choice of element type and size, number of integration points, modification of cyclic concrete behavior model and reloading strain of concrete significantly influence the fidelity of fiber element method for the prediction of permanent deformations.