• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.285-302
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• 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.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.71-79
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• 2023

In this study, a prefabricated buckling brace (PF-BRB) was proposed, and a test specimen was manufactured based on the design formula for the initial shape and structural performance tests were performed. As a result of the experiment, all standard performance requirements presented by KDS 41 17 00 and MOE 2021 were satisfied before and after replacement of the reinforcement module, and no fracture of the joint module occurred. As a result of the incremental load test, the physical properties showed a significant difference in the stiffness ratio after yielding under the compressive load of the envelope according to the experimental results. It is judged necessary to further analyze the physical properties according to the experimental results through finite element analysis in the future.

• 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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.309-318
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• 2018

Buckling Restrained Braced (BRB) frames have been widely used as an efficient seismic load resisting system in recent years mostly due to their symmetric and stable hysteretic behavior and significant energy dissipation capacity. In this study, to provide a better understanding of the behavior of BRB frames with various beam-column connections, a numerical study using non-linear finite element (FE) analysis is conducted. All models are implemented in the Abaqus software package following an explicit formulation. Initially, the results of the FE model are verified with experimental data. Then, diverse beam-column connections are modeled for the sake of comparison from the shear capacity, energy dissipation and frame hysteresis behavior points of view until appropriate performance is assessed. The considered connections are divided into three different categories: (1) simple beam-column connections including connection by web angle and connection by seat angle; (2) semi-rigid connection including connection by web and seat angles; and (3) rigid beam-column connections by upper-lower beam plates and beam connections with web and flange splices. Results of the non-linear FE analyses show that these types of beam-column connections have little effect on the maximum story drift and shear capacity of BRB frames. However, the connection type has a significant effect on the amount of energy dissipation and hysteresis behavior of BRB frames. Also, changes in length and thickness of the angles in simple and semi-rigid connections and changes in length and thickness of plates in rigid connections have slight effects (less than 4%) on the overall frame behavior.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.703-731
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• 2013

In order to verify the applicability of buckling restrained braces (BRB's) and fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets to the seismic strengthening of a low-rise RC building having the irregularities of a soft/weak story and torsion at the ground story, a series of earthquake simulation tests were conducted on a 1:5 scale RC building model before, and after, the strengthening, and these test results are compared and analyzed, to check the effectiveness of the strengthening. Based on the investigations, the following conclusions are made: (1) The BRB's revealed significant slips at the joint with the existing RC beam, up-lifts of columns from RC foundations and displacements due to the flexibility of foundations, and final failure due to the buckling and fracture of base joint angles. The lateral stiffness appeared to be, thereby, as low as one seventh of the intended value, which led to a large yield displacement and, therefore, the BRB's could not dissipate seismic input energy as desired within the range of anticipated displacements. (2) Although the strengthened model did not behave as desired, great enhancement in earthquake resistance was achieved through an approximate 50% increase in the lateral resistance of the wall, due to the axial constraint by the peripheral BRB frames. Finally, (3) whereas in the original model, base torsion was resisted by both the inner core walls and the peripheral frames, the strengthened model resisted most of the base torsion with the peripheral frames, after yielding of the inner core walls, and represented dual values of torsion stiffness, depending on the yielding of core walls.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2016

The 1100 foot [335 m] tall Wilshire Grand Center tower under construction in Los Angeles illustrates many key outrigger issues. The tower has a long, narrow floor plan and slender central core. Outrigger braces at three groups of levels in the tower help provide for occupant comfort during windy conditions as well as safety during earthquakes. Because outrigger systems are outside the scope of prescriptive code provisions, Performance Based Design (PBD) using Nonlinear Response History Analysis (NRHA) demonstrated acceptability to the Los Angeles building department and its peer review panel. Buckling Restrained Brace (BRB) diagonals are used at all outrigger levels to provide stable cyclic nonlinear behavior and to limit forces generated at columns, connections and core walls. Each diagonal at the lowest set of outriggers includes four individual BRBs to provide exceptional capacities. The middle outriggers have an unusual 'X-braced Vierendeel' configuration to provide clear hotel corridors. The top outriggers are pre-loaded by jacks to address long-term differential shortening between the concrete core and concrete-filled steel perimeter box columns. The outrigger connection details are complex in order to handle large forces and deformations, but were developed with contractor input to enable practical construction.

• 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 Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.205-229
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• 2018

Energy induced by minor earthquake and micro vibration cannot be dissipated by traditional buckling-restrained braces (BRBs). To solve this problem, a new type of hybrid passive control device, named as VE-BRB, which is configured by a BRB with high-damping viscoelastic (VE) layers, is developed and studied. Theoretical analysis, performance tests, numerical simulation and case analysis are conducted to study the seismic behavior of VE-BRBs. The results indicate that the combination of hysteretic and damping devices lead to a multi-phased nature and good performance. VE-BRB's working state can be divided into three phases: before yielding of the steel core, VE layers provide sufficient damping ratio to mitigate minor vibrations; after yielding of the steel core, the steel's hysteretic deformations provide supplemental dissipative capacity for structures; after rupture of the steel core, VE layers are still able to work normally and provide multiple security assurance for structures. The simulation results agreed well with the experimental results, validating the finite element analysis method, constitutive models and the identified parameters. The comparison of the time history analysis on a 6-story frame with VE-BRBs and BRBs verified the advantages of VE-BRB for seismic protection of structures compared with traditional BRB. In general, VE-BRB had the potential to provide better control effect on structural displacement and shear in all stages than BRB as expected.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.549-558
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• 2014

Buckling restrained braces(BRBs) developed as a seismic protection element, hysteretic damper, have been investigated in America and Japan mainly. BRBs are composed of a steel core and concrete-filled steel casing. It is one of the major causes of drop in productivity to fill the steel casing with concrete. To improve this problem, the BRB is introduced in which the steel core is restrained with a pair of semicircular springs. In this paper, the numerical and analytical investigation about the desirable configuration for a semicircular spring is presented. Firstly, the stiffness and strength of semicircular spring is determined theoretically to buckle into a very high-order modes. Then, the required stiffness and strength are calculated under the practical design conditions and considered as reference values to find a proper configuration. The material strength and thickness of semicircular spring are chose from the finite element analysis for 5 semicircular springs with varying height. Finally, the nonlinear buckling analysis of BRB with proper semicircular springs shows that the bucking strength of the whole BRB is very similar to the strength of steel core with length between semicircular springs.

• 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.