• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.175-188
• /
• 2012

A parametric study for varying the radii of curvature is performed with a curved tub girder bridge having three continuous spans. The bracing forces of top lateral bracings from the results of numerical equations are compared to those of 3-dimensional finite element analyses. New modifying factors applicable in computing the nominal member forces of top lateral bracings were suggested. The numerical equations were derived based on one girder system, and it is shown that the numerical equations exhibit some errors compared with 3D FEA results. The main reason for this phenomenon lies on the number of girders. The twin girder system has an external cross-beam between inner and outer girder. It also has larger lateral stiffness than the single girder system. Finally, the distributions by the torsion, bending, distortion, and lateral loading of the top lateral bracing forces were presented in this paper.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.667-674
• /
• 2013

Improving the earthquake resistance of buildings through seismic retrofitting using steel braces can result in brittle failure at the connection between the brace and the building, as well as buckling failure of the braces. This paper proposes a new seismic retrofit methodology combined with glass fiber sheet (GFS) and non-compression X-brace system using carbon fiber (CFXB) for reinforced concrete buildings damaged in earthquakes. The GFS is used to improve the ductility of columns damaged in earthquake. The CFXB consists of carbon fiber bracing and anchors, to replace the conventional steel bracing and bolt connection. This paper reports the seismic resistance of a reinforced concrete frame strengthened using the GFS-CFXB system. Cyclic loading tests were carried out, and the hysteresis of the lateral load-drift relations as well as ductility capacities were investigated. Carbon fiber is less rigid than the conventional materials used for seismic retrofitting, resulting in some significant advantages: the strength of the structure increased markedly with the use of CF X-bracing, and no buckling failure of the bracing was observed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.80 no.5
• /
• pp.609-623
• /
• 2021

Buckling restrained bracing (BRB) was firstly introduced in Japan construction industry in year 1989. With time, BRB performance has been advanced to self-centering BRB (SC-BRB) which has exceptional energy dissipation, addressing the improvement in the structure performance in post-seismic affect. Although the BRB performance specifications are defined in design codes of several countries, specific design provisions are not generally provided since BRBs are usually considered a manufactured device. Furthermore, most of review papers focused on BRB rather than SC-BRB. Thus, this paper explores the background of both BRB and SC-BRB. The importance of self-centering components in BRB and literature related to it have been studied. This review study also highlights the significance of corrosion-resistance materials in the configuring BRB and SC-BRB since most of such members are made of carbon steel that is susceptible to corrosion.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.213-226
• /
• 2017

The behavior of building industry metal sheeting under shear forces has been extensively studied and equations have been developed to predict its shear stiffness. Building design engineers can make use of these equations to design a metal deck form bracing system. Bridge metal deck forms differ from building industry forms by both shape and connection detail. These two factors have implications for using these equations to predict the shear stiffness of deck form systems used in the bridge industry. The conventional eccentric connection of bridge metal deck forms reduces their shear stiffness dramatically. However, recent studies have shown that a simple modification to the connection detail can significantly increase the shear stiffness of bridge metal deck form panels. To the best of the author's knowledge currently there is not a design aid that can be used by bridge engineers to estimate the stiffness of bridge metal deck forms. Therefore, bridge engineers rely on previous test results to predict the stiffness of bridge metal deck forms in bracing applications. In an effort to provide a design aid for bridge design engineers to rely on bridge metal deck forms as a bracing source during construction, cantilever shear frame test results of bridge metal deck forms with and without edge stiffened panels have been compared with the SDI Diaphragm Design Manual and ECCS Diaphragm Stressed Skin Design Manual stiffness expressions used for building industry deck forms. The bridge metal deck form systems utilized in the tests consisted of sheets with thicknesses of 0.75 mm to 1.90 mm, heights of 50 mm to 75 mm and lengths of up to 2.7 m; which are representative of bridge metal deck forms frequently employed in steel bridge constructions. The results indicate that expressions provided in these manuals to predict the shear stiffness of building metal deck form panels can be used to estimate the shear stiffness of bridge metal deck form bracing systems with certain limitations. The SDI Diaphragm Design Manual expressions result in reasonable estimates for sheet thicknesses of 0.75 mm, 0.91 mm, and 1.21 mm and underestimate the shear stiffness of 1.52 and 1.90 mm thick bridge metal deck forms. Whereas, the ECCS Diaphragm Stressed Skin Design Manual expressions significantly underestimate the shear stiffness of bridge metal deck form systems for above mentioned deck thicknesses.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.86 no.4
• /
• pp.473-486
• /
• 2023

Nowadays, urban centers are increasingly vertical, making architects and engineers look for more efficient tools to analyze the effects of wind on tall buildings. Topology optimization can be used as an efficient tool for the design of bracing systems. Therefore, this work obtained the wind loads that act in the CAARC building, following the Brazilian standard NBR 6123/1988 and using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Four loading situations were considered, using the SIMP and BESO methods to optimize two-dimensional structures. A comparison between the SIMP and BESO methods is presented, showing the differences in the geometry of the solution found by both methods, the percentage variation in the objective function values and the dimensionless processing time. The solutions obtained through the loads obtained by the Brazilian standard are also compared with the numerical solutions obtained by CFD. The results show that the BESO method presented more rigid structures compared to the SIMP method. The bracing structures obtained with the SIMP method always present similar patterns in the distribution and quantity of bars, in contrast to the BESO method where no characteristic topology pattern was observed. It was concluded that even though the structures obtained by the BESO method presented greater stiffness, the SIMP method was less susceptible to the methodology used for the determination of wind loads. Additionally, it was evident the great potential that the combination topology optimization and computational wind engineering have in the design of bracing systems of high functional and aesthetic standards.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.26 no.4A
• /
• pp.611-620
• /
• 2006

The composite two plate-girder bridges are generally defined as a non-redundant load path structure because the bridge can collapse if one of the two girders is seriously damaged by a fatigue crack. In this paper, a numerical study on the evaluation of the after-fracture redundancy of the composite two-girder bridges was accomplished. The evaluation has been performed on the simple and three-span continuous bridges with I-section cross beams which serve as transverse bracing, and with or without the bottom lateral bracing system. The load carrying capacities of the intact and damaged bridges with or without lateral bracing were evaluated from material and geometric nonlinear analysis, respectively and the redundancy was evaluated for each case. It was acknowledged from the analytical results that both simple and continuous intact two-girder bridges have sufficient redundancy even without lateral bracing, but it takes an important role to improve the redundancy of damaged bridges.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.207-220
• /
• 2013

In this study, the vulnerability of two existing asymmetric steel building frames to Progressive Collapse (PC) is assessed. The buildings have different frame systems, steel sections and number of stories (nine and six). An alternate path method (APM) with a linear static analysis (LS) is carried out according to General Services Administration (GSA) 2003 guidelines. The Demand Capacity Ratio (DCR) of each primary element (beams and columns) is given with its specific details for all frames. The results show that the nine-story building with a dual frame system (moment frame with bracing system) has a lower susceptibility and greater resistance to PC than the six-story building with a simple building frame system (gravity system with bracing system). Implementing built-up box-shaped sections for columns is a better choice than using built-up I-shaped sections because there is no weak axis for the box section.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.447-456
• /
• 2006

In this study, a torsional test for U-type steel box girders was performed to observe the effects of the kind of panel for top lateral walateral bracings on the torsional behavior of the U-type steel girder system. For the structural tests, the test specimen with a two-thirds scale of the system actually constructed in the field was used. In the torsional test to observe the efects of top lateral bracings, the most economical arrangement of the top lateral bracing was found to be the panel width to length ratio of 1:1.5 with the inclined angle of $40^{\circ}$.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.891-907
• /
• 2020

Many studies reveal that during destructive earthquakes, most of the structures enter the inelastic phase. The amount of hysteretic energy in a structure is considered as an important criterion in structure design and an important indicator for the degree of its damage or vulnerability. The hysteretic energy value wasted after the structure yields is the most important component of the energy equation that affects the structures system damage thereof. Controlling this value of energy leads to controlling the structure behavior. Here, for the first time, the hysteretic behavior and energy dissipation capacity are assessed at presence of elliptical braced resisting frames (ELBRFs), through an experimental study and numerical analysis of FEM. The ELBRFs are of lateral load systems, when located in the middle bay of the frame and connected properly to the beams and columns, in addition to improving the structural behavior, do not have the problem of architectural space in the bracing systems. The energy dissipation capacity is assessed in four frames of small single-story single-bay ELBRFs at ½ scale with different accessories, and compared with SMRF and X-bracing systems. The frames are analyzed through a nonlinear FEM and a quasi-static cyclic loading. The performance features here consist of hysteresis behavior, plasticity factor, energy dissipation, resistance and stiffness variation, shear strength and Von-Mises stress distribution. The test results indicate that the good behavior of the elliptical bracing resisting frame improves strength, stiffness, ductility and dissipated energy capacity in a significant manner.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.13-22
• /
• 2018

In this study, seismic performance of existing RC frames reinforced with steel chevron bracing systems was experimentally evaluated. For this purpose, the unreinforced base specimen and seismically reinforced specimens with steel chevron bracing systems were fabricated and tested. Both strength and stiffness of the reinforced specimens were targeted about 2-3 times larger than the base specimen. Test results showed that the stiffness, strength, and ductility of the reinforced specimens considerably improved than those of unreinforced base specimen. Therefore, the results from this study could offer the basic information on the developing design guideline for the seismic reinforcement of RC frames.