• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.487-498
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• 2018

Buckling-restrained braces are passive control devices with high level of energy dissipation ability. However, they suffer from low post-yield stiffness which makes them vulnerable to severe ground motions, especially near-field earthquakes. Among the several methods proposed to improve resistance of BRB frames, mega-brace configuration can be a solution to increase frame lateral strength and stiffness and improve distribution of forces to prevent large displacement in braces. Due to the limited number of research regarding the performance of such systems, the current paper aims to assess seismic performance of BRB frames with mega-bracing arrangement under near-field earthquakes via a detailed probabilistic framework. For this purpose, a group of multi-story mega-BRB frames were modelled by OpenSEES software platform. In the first part of the paper, simplified procedures including nonlinear pushover and Incremental Dynamic Analysis were conducted for performance evaluation. Two groups of near-fault seismic ground motions (Non-pulse and Pulse-like records) were considered for analyses to take into account the effects of record-to-record uncertainties, as well as forward directivity on the results. In the second part, seismic reliability analyses are conducted in the context of performance based earthquake engineering. Two widely-known EDP-based and IM-based probabilistic frameworks are employed to estimate collapse potential of the structures. Results show that all the structures can successfully tolerate near-field earthquakes with a high level of confidence level. Therefore, mega-bracing configuration can be an effective alternative to conventional BRB bracing to withstand near-field earthquakes.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.17-34
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• 2018

Tall buildings are categorized as important structures because of the large number of occupants and high construction costs. The choice of competent lateral load resisting systems in tall buildings is of crucial importance. Bracing systems have long been an economic and effective method for resisting lateral loads in steel structures. However, there are some potential adverse aspects to bracing systems such as the limitations they inflict on architectural plans, uplift forces and poor performances in compression. in order to eliminate the mentioned problems and for cost optimization, in this paper, six 20-story steel buildings and frames with different types of bracing, i.e., conventional, mega-scale and buckling-restrained bracing (BRB) were analyzed. Linear and modal push-over analyses were carried out. The results pointed out that Mega-Scale Bracing (MSB) system has significant superiority over the conventional bracing type. The MSB system is 25% more economic. Some other advantages of MSB include: up to 63% less drift ratio, up to 38% better performance in lateral displacement, up to 100% stiffer stories, and about 50% smaller uplift forces. Moreover, MSB equipped with BRB attests even a better seismic behavior in the aforementioned parameters.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.401-408
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• 2018

Concentric braced frames are commonly used in steel structures to withstand lateral forces. One of the drawbacks of these systems is the possibility that the braces are buckled under compressive loads, which leads to sudden reduction of the bearing capacity of the structure. To overcome this deficiency, the idea of the Buckling Restrained Brace (BRB) has been proposed in recent years. The length of a BRB steel core can have a significant effect on its overall behavior, since it directly influences the energy dissipation capability of the member. In this study, numerical methods have been utilized for investigation of the optimum length of BRB steel cores. For this purpose, BRBs with different lengths placed into several two-dimensional framing systems with various heights were considered. Then, the Response History Analysis (RHA) was performed, and finally, the optimum steel core length of BRBs and its effect on the responses of the overall system were investigated. The results show that the shortest length where failure does not occur is the best length that can be proposed as the optimum steel core length of BRBs. This length can be obtained through a formula which has been derived and verified in this study by both analytical and numerical methods.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.5 s.66
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• pp.571-578
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• 2003

An effective seismic retrofit scheme for inverted V braced (or chevron type) steel frames was proposed by studying the redistribution of forces in the post-buckling range. The steel frames with chevron bracing are highly prone to soft story response once the compression brace buckles under earthquake loading. This paper shows that the seismic performance of such frames could be significantly improved by supplying tie bars to redistribute the inelastic deformation demand over the height of the building. A practical design method of the retrofit tie bars was also proposed by considering the sequence of buckling occurrence.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.417-433
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• 2023

The maximum ductility and cumulative ductility of connection joints of Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames (BRBF) are critical to the structural overall performance, which should be matched with the BRB ductility. The two-story and one-span BRBF with a one-third scale was tested under cyclic quasi-static loading, and the top-flange beam splice (TFBS) rotational connections were proposed and adopted in BRBF. The deformation capacity of TFBS connections was observed during the test, and the relationship between structural global ductility and local connection ductility was studied. The rotational capacity of the beam-column connections and the stability performance of the BRBs are highly relevant to the structural overall performance. The hysteretic curves of BRBF are stable and full under large displacement demand imposed up to 2% story drift, and energy is dissipated as the large plastic deformation developed in the structural components. The BRBs acted as fuses and yielded first, and the cumulative plastic ductility (CPD) of BRBs is 972.6 of the second floor and 439.7 of the first floor, indicating the excellent energy dissipation capacity of BRBs. Structural members with good local ductility ensure the large global ductility of BRBF. The ductile capacity and hysteretic behavior of BRBF with TFBS connections were compared with those of BRBF with Reduced Beam Section (RBS) connections in terms of the experimental results.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.509-516
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• 2010

In this study a seismic retrofit scheme for the reinforced concrete moment framed structures was investigated using steel bracing and moment frames. The analysis model structure is a 3-story 3-bay moment frame structure designed only for gravity load. The stress/strain concentration in brace-RC frame connection was investigated using finite element analysis. To prevent premature joint failure, steel moment frames were placed inside of middle bay of the RC frame. Two types of braces, steel braces and buckling restrained braces(BRBs), were used for retrofit, and the ductility and the strength of the structure before and after the retrofit were compared using nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. According to the analysis results, the strength and ductility of the structure retrofitted by the moment frames and braces increased significantly. The added steel frame did not contribute significantly to the increase of lateral strength mainly because the size is relatively small.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2009

The experiment was carried out to investigate lateral retrofitting effects by FRP and BRB (Buckling-Restrained Brace) for beam-column elements. These results were utilized to establish an analytical model using commercial nonlinear analysis software, PERFORM3D. Concrete and steel analytical models previously proposed by several scholars were adopted for this analytical study. A proposed analysis model showed reasonable accuracy compared with the test results on the beam-column elements strengthened FRP sheets and BRB, as well as with the non-strengthened element subjected to lateral cyclic loadings. Subsequently, the proposed modeling technique for nonlinear analysis would be helpful for preliminary analyses for retrofitting structures, by enabling engineers to estimate the improved capacity of retrofitted structural elements before performing construction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.169-180
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• 2015

Recently, Seismic performance of the building built in the past is required to review, because the code for seismic design have been reinforced. In 2009, if the revised latest criteria of seismic design is applied, the majority the steel structure of the low-rise concentrically braced system is short of the seismic performance. Also, when the steel braces are subject to compressive load, which causes unstable behavior of the structure. In order to verify the compressive behavior of the reinforced braces, structural performance test was conducted with variables of slenderness ratio and the amount of reinforcement. Therefore, this study suggests restraining the bending buckling of slender H-shaped braces to resist compressive force. In order to verify the compressive behavior of the reinforced braces, structural performance test was conducted with variables of slenderness ratio and the amount of reinforcement.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the structural capacities of beam-column specimens retrofitted with CFRP sheet and BRB (Buckling-Restrained Brace) under sustained axial and cyclic lateral loads. Three specimens were made using different retrofitting methods : non-retrofitted, retrofitted with CFRP sheets only, and retrofitted with both CFRP sheet and BRB systems. Lateral load resistant capacities were evaluated based on the load-displacement relations. From the results, the maximum lateral forces of the FRP sheet retrofitted and both the FRP and BRB retrofitted specimens showed approximately 34% and 138% improvement, respectively, compared with the non-retrofitted specimen.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.493-501
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• 2007

Recently, in the domestic amount of materials,curtailment and economic efficiency security by purpose, tapered beam application is achieved, but the architectural design technology of today based on the material non-linear method does not consider solutions to problems such as brittle fracture. So, geometric non-linear evaluation thatincludes initial deformation, width-thickness ratio, web stiffener and unbraced length is required. Therefore, in this study, we used ANSYS, a proven finite elementanalysis program,and material and geometric non-linear analysis to study existing and completed tapered H-section as deep beam's analysis model. Main parameters include the width-thickness ratio of web, stiffener, and flange brace, with the experimental result obtained by main variable buckling and limit strength evaluation. We made certain that a large width-thickness ratio of the web decreases the buckling strength and short unbraced web significantly improves ductility.