• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.661-678
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• 2015

Buckling Restrained Braces (BRB) have been widely used in the construction industry as they utilize the most desirable properties of both constituent materials, i.e., steel and concrete. They present excellent structural qualities such as high load bearing capacity, ductility, energy-absorption capability and good structural fire behaviour. The effects of size and type of filler material in the existed gap at the steel core-concrete interface as well as the element's cross sectional shape, on BRB's fire resistance capacity was investigated in this paper. A nonlinear sequentially-coupled thermal-stress three-dimensional model was presented and validated by experimental results. Variation of the samples was described by three groups containing, the steel cores with the same cross section areas and equal yield strength but different materials (metal and concrete) and sizes for the gap. Responses in terms of temperature distribution, critical temperature, heating elapsed time and contraction level of BRB element were examined. The study showed that the superior fire performance of BRB was obtained by altering the filler material in the gap from metal to concrete as well as by increasing the size of the gap. Also, cylindrical BRB performed better under fire conditions compared to the rectangular cross section.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.703-716
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• 2018

In this study, the different energy demands in reinforced concrete (RC) wall piers, coupled by buckling restrained braces (BRBs), are investigated. As well as this, a single plastic hinge approach (SPH) and an extended plastic hinge (EPH) approach is considered for the wall piers. In the SPH approach, plasticity can extend only in the 0.1H adjacent to the wall base while, in the EPH approach, the plasticity can extend anywhere in the wall. The seismic behavior of 10-, 20- and 30-storey structures, subjected to near-fault (NF) as well as far-fault (FF) earthquakes, is studied with respect to the energy concepts involved in each storey. Different kinds of energy, including inelastic, damping, kinetic, elastic and total input energy demand, are investigated. The energy contribution from the wall piers, as well as the BRBs in each model, are studied. On average, for EPH approach, the inelastic demand portion pertaining to the BRBs for NF and FF records, is more than 60 and 80%, respectively. In the SPH approach, these ratios are 77 and 90% for the NF and FF events, respectively. It appears that utilizing the BRBs as energy dissipation members between two wall piers is an efficient concept.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.205-210
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• 1997

This is to investigate the physical properties of the commercially available Soft, Thomas, Minerva, and Philadelphia cervical braces which are widely used in orthopedics, neurosurgery, and rehabilitation medicine clinics as assisting devices for physical stabilization of cervical vertebrates, to use as a basic data for designing new type brace. Tensile strengths were observed by universal mechanical measuring device and Thomas brace required the highest stress to break by tensile stress. Durabilities against continuous frictional forces were also determined, and Minerva brace demonstrated the longest frictional time until being perforated. According to these results, poly ethlene is recommendable as a frame and preparation of pores in the material is favorable to provide ventilation to skin.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.525-535
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• 2019

The seismic performance of steel frames equipped with a particular type of bending dissipative braces (BDBs) having U elements, which has recently been introduced and tested by the authors, is investigated. For this purpose, two structural systems, i.e., simple and dual steel building frames, both with diagonal BDBs and different number of stories, are considered. After providing a design method of this new BDB, the detailed structural models are developed in the OpenSees platform to perform nonlinear dynamic analyses. Seismic performance factors like ductility, overstrength, response modification and deflection amplification factors are calculated using incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). In addition, to assess the damage probability of the structural models, their seismic fragilities are developed. The results show high energy dissipation capacity of both structural systems while the number of U elements needed for the bracing system of each story in the moment frames are less than those in the corresponding non-moment (simple) frames. The average response modification and deflection amplification factors for both structural schemes are obtained about 8.6 and 5.4, respectively, which are slightly larger than the corresponding recommended values of ASCE for the typical buckling-restrained braces (BRBs).

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.699-716
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• 2016

Buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) are commonly used as lateral force-resisting systems in the structures located in seismic-active regions. The nearly symmetric load-displacement behavior of buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) helps in dissipating the input seismic energy through metallic hysteresis. In this study, an experimental investigation has been conducted on the reduced-core length BRB (RCLBRB) specimens to evaluate their hysteretic and overall performance under gradually increased cyclic loading. Detachable casings are used for the concrete providing confinement to the steel core segments of all test specimens to facilitate the post-earthquake inspection of steel core elements. The influence of variable core clearance and the local detailing of casings on the cyclic performance of RCLBRB specimens has been studied. The RCLBRB specimen with the detachable casing system and a smaller core clearance at the end zone as compared to the central region exhibited excellent hysteretic behavior without any slip. Such RCLBRB showed balanced higher yielding deformed configuration up to a core strain of 4.2% without any premature instability. The strength-adjustment factors for the RCLBRB specimens are found to be nearly same as that of the conventional BRBs as noticed in the past studies. Simple expressions have been proposed based on the regression analysis to estimate the strength-adjustment factors and equivalent damping potential of the RCLBRB specimens.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.5
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• pp.611-628
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• 2022

Energy-dissipative rocking (EDR) columns are a class of seismic mitigation device capable of dissipating seismic energy and preventing weak-story failure of moment resisting frames (MRFs). An EDR consists of two hinge-supported steel columns interconnected by steel dampers along its height. Under earthquakes, the input seismic energy can be dissipated by plastic energy of the steel dampers in the EDR column. However, the unrecoverable plastic deformation of steel dampers generally results in residual drifts in the structural system. This paper presents a proof-of-concept study on an innovative device, namely self-centring energy-dissipative rocking (SC-EDR) column, aiming at enabling self-centring capability of the EDR column by installing a set of shape memory alloy (SMA) tension braces. The working mechanism of the SC-EDR column is presented in detail, and the feasibility of the new device is carefully examined via experimental and numerical studies considering the parameters of the SMA bar diameter and the steel damper plate thickness. The seismic responses including load carrying capacities, stress distributions, base rocking behaviour, source of residual deformation, and energy dissipation are discussed in detail. A rational combination of the steel damper and the SMA tension braces can achieve excellent energy dissipation and self-centring performance.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2023

Steel brace strengthening is the most popular seismic rehabilitation method for school buildings. This is because the design can be conducted by using relatively easy nonlinear pushover analysis and standard modeling in codes. An issue with steel brace strengthening is that the reinforced building should behave elastically to satisfy performance objectives. For this, the size of steel braces should be highly increased, which results in excessive strengthening cost by force concentration on existing members and foundations due to the considerable stiffness and strength of the steel braces. The main reason may be the brittle failure mode of columns, so this study investigated the relationship between the efficiency of steel brace strengthening and column failure modes. The result showed that the efficiency is highly dependent on the shear capacity ratio of columns and structural analysis methods. School buildings reinforced by steel braces do not need to behave elastically when the shear capacity ratio is low, and pushover analysis is used, which means reducing steel material is possible.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2012

Reinforced concrete shear walls and X-type steel braces were applied in seismic retrofit techniques for seismic performance evaluation of school buildings constructed in accordance with standard design announced by the ordinance of the ministry of construction in 1980s. Seismic performance evaluation was based on FEMA 356 using response spectrum as elastic analysis and conducted to pushover analysis with nonlinear static analysis. The maximum displacement ratio between floors in 4th and 3rd floors of the existing school buildings was less than 1.0%, which was functioning level in FEMA 356. However, because plastic hinge occurs somewhat in structural members according to the results of pushover analysis, partial reinforcement will be required. X-direction of the maximum lateral displacement of reinforced concrete shear walls than X-type steel braces was 45% and 32% in 4th and 3rd floors of school buildings, and Y-direction was 18% and 17%, respectively.

• Journal of The Korean Digital Architecture Interior Association
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.115-121
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• 2011

Occurrence of earthquakes have been increased all over the world and also, magnitude of earthquakes have been larger these days. Earthquake can be happened in Korea and is not a safe country any more. Many buildings are exposed at danger without any alternatives against earthquake in Korea. Among various kinds of buildings, school buildings are very important and urgent, because many students stays at school and young students have some difficulty to evacuate. Also, most existing school buildings in Korea were not designed considering earthquake resistant design codes. Thus, in this study, 3 types of braces were applied for seismic retrofits of existing school buildings using commercial structural analysis software and effective seismic retrofits were evaluated and discussed based on results by time history analysis.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.247-254
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• 2012

In order to improve the seismic behaviors of traditional steel-concrete mixed structure, a novel steel concrete mixed structure consisting of steel frames braced with buckling restrained braces (BRBs) and a concrete tube is proposed. Based on several assumptions, the simplified mechanical model of the novel mixed structure is established, and the shear and bending stiffness formulas of the steel frames, BRBs and concrete tube are respectively introduced. The equilibrium differential equation of the novel mixed structure under horizontal load is developed based on the structural elastic theory. The simplified algorithms to determine the lateral displacement and internal forces of the novel mixed structure under the inverted-triangle distributed load, uniformly load and top-concentrated load are then obtained considering several boundary conditions and compatible deformation conditions. The effectiveness of the simplified algorithms is verified by FEM comparison.