• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.687-702
• /
• 2016

There are many studies in the literature conducted on the subject of ensuring earthquake safety of reinforced concrete and steel structures using steel braced frames, but no detailed study concerning individual behavior of steel braced frames under earthquake loads and strengthening of reinforced concrete structures with out-of-plane steel braced frames has been encountered. In this study, in order to evaluate behaviors of "Concentrically Steel Braced Frames" types defined in TEC-2007 under lateral loads, dimensional analysis of Concentrically Steel Braced Frames designed with different scales and dimensions was conducted, the results were controlled according to TEC-2007, and after conducting static pushover analysis, behavior and load capacity of the Concentrically Steel Braced Frames and hinges sequence of the elements constituting the Concentrically Steel Braced Frames were tested. Concentrically Steel Braced Frames that were tested analytically consist of 2 storey and one bay, and are formed as two groups with the scales 1/2 and 1/3. In the study, Concentrically Steel Braced Frames described in TEC-2007 were designed, which are 7 types in total being non-braced, X-braced, V- braced, $\wedge$- braced, $\backslash$- braced, /- braced and K- braced. Furthermore, in order to verify accuracy of the analytic studies performed, the 1/2 scaled concentrically steel X-braced frame test element made up of box profiles and 1/3 scaled reinforced concrete frame with insufficient earthquake resistance were tested individually under lateral loads, and test results were compared with the results derived from analytic studies and interpreted. Similar results were obtained from both experimental studies and pushover analyses. According to pushover analysis results, load-carrying capacity of 1/3 scaled reinforced concrete frames increased up to 7,01 times as compared to the non-braced specimen upon strengthening. Results acquired from the study revealed that reinforced concrete buildings which have inadequate seismic capacity can be strengthened quickly, easily and economically by this method without evacuating them.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.73 no.3
• /
• pp.303-317
• /
• 2020

In this study an innovative rocking zipper braced frame (RZBF) is proposed to overcome the deficiencies of common concentrically braced frames. RZBF is an improved rocking concentrically braced frame which is based on combination of rocking behavior and zipper columns. The base rocking joints and post-tensioned bars provide rocking response and restoring force, respectively. Also, zipper columns distribute the unbalance force over the frame height and reduce the damage concentration. To evaluate seismic performance of RZBF, a comparison study is carried out considering concentrically braced frame, zipper braced frame, rocking concentrically braced frame and RZBF. Thereby, a suite of non-linear time history analyses had been performed on four different types of archetypes with four, six, eight, ten and twelve stories. Frames were designed and non-linear time history analyses were conducted in OpenSees. To compare the seismic behavior of the archetypes, roof drifts, residual roof drifts, story drifts, the forces of first and top story braces, PT bars forces, column uplift and base shears were taken in to consideration. Results illustrate that using RZBF, can reduce the damage due to reduced residual drifts. Zipper columns enhance the seismic performance of rocking systems. As the number of stories increase in the RZBF systems, larger top story braces were needed. So the RZBF system is applicable on low and midrise buildings.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.323-332
• /
• 2015

Special concentrically braced frames(SCBFs) have distinctive advantages in considerable seismic performance, which make engineers widely use SCBFs as lateral-load resisting systems in buildings and have researchers to develop SCBFs design methods. Compared to the extensive research of SCBF, comparatively little information is currently available on the performance of SCBFs designed and constructed before the early 1990's. Prior to 1988, concentrically braced frames(CBFs) design requirements were substantially less restrictive. As a result, many existing structures designed to these requirements may not ensure ductility and pose a significant concern in current buildings. In this study, these older frames are referred as non-seismic braced frames(NCBFs). In order to investigate the seismic behavior of NCBFs, finite-element(FE) models of SCBF and NCBF were suggested and verified using case investigation of NCBF conducted on the University of Washington. Using these models, the seismic behavior of NCBF with shared welding shear tab, which is the representative of the types of connections, was established and compared with the seismic performance of SCBF.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.23-37
• /
• 2018

In this paper, seismic provisions related to built-up special concentrically braced frames (BSCBFs) are investigated under cyclic loading using non-linear finite element analysis of a single-bay single-story frame. These braces, which contain double angle and double channel brace sections, are considered in two types of single diagonal and X-braced frames. The results of this study show that current seismic provisions such as observing the 0.4 ratio for slenderness ratio of individual elements between stitch connectors are conservative in BSCBFs, and can be increased according to the type of braces. Furthermore, such increments will lead to decreasing or remaining the current middle protected zone requirements of each BSCBFs. Failure results of BSCBFs, which are related to the plastic equivalent strain growth of members and ductility capacity of the models, show that the behaviors of double channel back-to-back diagonal braces are more desirable than those of similar face-to-face ones. Also, for double angle diagonal braces, results show that the failure of back-to-back BSCBFs occurs faster in comparison with face-to-face similar braces. In X-braced frames, cyclic and failure behaviors of built-up face-to-face models are more desirable than similar back-to-back braces in general.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.5 no.5
• /
• pp.345-358
• /
• 2005

The response of single story buildings and other case studies are investigated to observe trends in response and to develop a better understanding of the impact of some design parameters on the seismic response of CBF. While it is recognized that many parameters have an influence on the behavior of braced frames, the focus of this study is mostly on quantifying energy dissipation in compression and its effectiveness on seismic performance. Based on dynamic analyses of single story braced frame and case studies, it is found that a bracing member designed with bigger R and larger KL/r results in lower normalized cumulative energy, i.e., cumulative compressive energy normalized by the corresponding tensile energy (${\sum}E_C/E_T$), in both cases.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.5-12
• /
• 2016

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.317-335
• /
• 2016

Concentrically braced steel frames (CBFs) can be optimised during the seismic design process by using lateral loading distributions derived from the concept of uniform damage distribution. However, it is not known how such structures are affected by uncertainties. This study aims to quantify and manage the effects of structural and ground-motion uncertainty on the seismic performance of optimum and conventionally designed CBFs. Extensive nonlinear dynamic analyses are performed on 5, 10 and 15-storey frames to investigate the effects of storey shear-strength and damping ratio uncertainties by using the Monte Carlo simulation method. For typical uncertainties in conventional steel frames, optimum design frames always exhibit considerably less inter-storey drift and cumulative damage compared to frames designed based on IBC-2012. However, it is noted that optimum structures are in general more sensitive to the random variation of storey shear-strength. It is shown that up to 50% variation in damping ratio does not affect the seismic performance of the optimum design frames compared to their code-based counterparts. Finally, the results indicate that the ground-motion uncertainty can be efficiently managed by optimizing CBFs based on the average of a set of synthetic earthquakes representing a design spectrum. Compared to code-based design structures, CBFs designed with the proposed average patterns exhibit up to 54% less maximum inter-storey drift and 73% less cumulative damage under design earthquakes. It is concluded that the optimisation procedure presented is reliable and should improve the seismic performance of CBFs.

• Advances in Computational Design
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.233-267
• /
• 2018

Conventional seismic design of concentrically braced frame (CBF) structures suggests that the gusset plate connecting a steel brace to beams and/or columns should be designed as non-dissipative in earthquakes, while the steel brace members should be designed as dissipative elements. These design intentions lead to thicker and larger gusset plates in design on one hand and a potentially under-rated contribution of gusset plates in design, on the other hand. In contrast, research has shown that compact and thinner gusset plates designed in accordance with the elliptical clearance method rather than the conventional standard linear clearance method can enhance system ductility and energy dissipation capacity in concentrically braced steel frames. In order to assess the two design methods, six cyclic push-over tests on full scale models of concentric braced steel frame structures were conducted. Furthermore, a 3D finite element (FE) shell model, incorporating state-of-the-art tools and techniques in numerical simulation, was developed that successfully replicates the response of gusset plate and bracing members under fully reversed cyclic axial loading. Direct measurements from strain gauges applied to the physical models were used primarily to validate FE models, while comparisons of hysteresis load-displacement loops from physical and numerical models were used to highlight the overall performance of the FE models. The study shows the two design methods attain structural response as per the design intentions; however, the elliptical clearance method has a superiority over the standard linear method as a fact of improving detailing of the gusset plates, enhancing resisting capacity and improving deformability of a CBF structure. Considerations were proposed for improvement of guidelines for detailing gusset plates and bracing members in CBF structures.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.15 no.4 s.65
• /
• pp.379-388
• /
• 2003

The response of single story buildings and other case studies were investigated to observe trends and develop a better understanding of the impact of some design parameters on the seismic response of Concentrically Braced Frames (CBF). While many parameters are known to influence the behavior of braced frames, the focus of this study was mostly on quantifying energy dissipation in compression and its effectiveness on seismic performance. Based on dynamic analyses of single story braced frame and case studies, a bracing member designed with bigger R and larger KL/r was found to result in lower normalized cumulative energy ratio in both cases.