• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.423-436
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• 2012

In this study total of six buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) were manufactured using a square steel rod as a load-resisting core member and a hollow steel tube as restrainer to prevent global buckling of the core. The gap between the core and the tube was filled with steel rods as filler material. The performances of the proposed BRB from uniaxial and subassemblage tests were compared with those of the specimens filled with mortar. The test results showed that the performance of the BRB with discontinuous steel rods as filler material was not satisfactory, whereas the BRBs with continuous steel rods as filler material showed good performance when the external tubes were strong enough against buckling. It was observed that the buckling strength of the external tube of the BRBs filled with steel rods needs to be at least twice as high as that of the BRBs filled with mortar to ensure high cumulative plastic deformation of the BRB.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.81-87
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• 2014

The use of Buckling Restrained Braces (BRB) for enhancing the performance of the buildings is gaining wider acceptance. This paper presents the first application of these devices in a major high-rise building in the Philippines. A 50-storey residential reinforced concrete building tower, with ductile core wall, with BRB system is investigated. The detailed modeling and design procedure of buckling restrained brace system is presented for the optimal design against the two distinct levels of earthquake ground motions; serviceable behavior for frequent earthquakes and very low probability of collapse under extremely rare earthquakes. The stiffness and strength of the buckling restrained brace system are adjusted to optimize the performance of the structural system under different levels of earthquakes. Response spectrum analysis is conducted for Design Basis Earthquake level and Service level, while nonlinear time history analysis is performed for the most credible earthquake. The case study results show the effectiveness of buckling restrained braces.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2018

Buckling-Restrained Braces (BRBs) have been widely applied to tall buildings in seismic areas in the world. In this paper the author summarizes representative types of BRB compositions and shows two cases of special applications of BRBs. In the first case, BRB diagonals for tall building were used to provide stable cyclic nonlinear hysteresis and also used to limit forces generated at columns, connections and walls. The top outriggers are pre-loaded by jacks to resolve long-term differential shortenings between the concrete core wall and concrete-filled steel box columns. The second case is the retrofit work for a communication tower by replacing the insufficiently strong members with BRBs in Japan.

• 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.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.57-65
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• 2014

In order to improve the wind performance of buckling-restrained braces (BRBs), Hybrid buckling-restrained braces (H-BRBs) have been studied in Korea. The seismic performance of H-BRBs is different according to the action of VE damper. In this study, the nonlinear time history analyses have been performed on the parameters such as brace types and input earthquakes. The results of the study suggest that H-BRBs meet the BRB's requirement of ANSI/AISC 341-10 only if VE damper is not working during an earthquake.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.83-91
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• 2009

Buckling Restrained Braces (BRBs) show good seismic behavior. They do not dissipate energy, however, when they are subjected to minor earthquakes or wind. Hybrid Buckling Restrained Braces (H-BRBs), which can improve the wind performance of the BRB system, are a kind of hybrid damper system composed of a viscoelastic damper and BRBs. In this paper, two H-BRB specimens with different cores were experimentally investigated to ensure the structural behavior of the H-BRB system in an elastic range. The axial deformation of the primary resisting system was compared with that of the secondary resisting system, and the equivalent damping ratio of the H-BRBs was estimated. It was concluded that H-BRBs with double shear dampers show good structural behavior and are applicable to tall buildings, to improve the building performance at a comfortable level.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.217-228
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• 2017

Braces are one of the retrofitting systems of structure under earthquake loading. Buckling restrained braces (BRBs) are one of the very efficient braces for lateral loads. One of the key needs for a desirable and acceptable behavior of buckling-restraining brace members under intensive loading is that it prevents total buckling until the bracing member tolerates enough plastic deformation and ductility. This paper presents the results of a set of analysis by finite element method on buckling restrained braces in which the filler materials within the restraining member have been removed. These braces contain core as the conventional BRBs, but they have a different buckling restrained system. The purpose of this analysis is conducting a parametric study on various empty spaces between core and restraining member, the effect of friction between core and restraining member and applying initial deformation to brace system to investigate the global buckling behavior of these braces. The results of analysis indicate that the flexural stiffness of restraining member, regardless of the amount of empty space, can influence the global buckling behavior of brace significantly.

• 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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.437-452
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• 2004

A simplified seismic design procedure for steel structures with buckling-restrained braces (BRB) was proposed based on the energy balance concept and the equal energy assumption. The input seismic energy was estimated from a design spectrum, and the elastic and hysteretic energy were computed using energy balance concept. The size of braces was determined so that the hysteretic energy demand was equal to the hysteretic energy dissipated by the BRB. The validity of using equivalent single-degree-of-freedom systems to estimate seismic input and hysteretic energy demand in multi story structures with BRB was investigated through time-history analysis. The story-wise distribution pattern of hysteretic energy demands was also obtained and was applied in the design process. According to analysis results, the maximum displacements of the 3-story structure designed in accordance with the proposed procedure generally coincided with the target displacements on the conservative side. The maximum displacements of the 6- and 8-story structures, however, turned out to be somewhat smaller than the target values due to the participation of higher vibration modes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.589-599
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• 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.