• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.369-385
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• 2002

Ductility capacity is comprehensively studied for steel moment-resisting frames. Local, story and global ductility are being considered. An appropriate measure of global ductility is suggested. A time domain nonlinear seismic response algorithm is used to evaluate several definitions of ductility. It is observed that for one-story structures, resembling a single degree of freedom (SDOF) system, all definitions of global ductility seem to give reasonable values. However, for complex structures it may give unreasonable values. It indicates that using SDOF systems to estimate the ductility capacity may be a very crude approximation. For multi degree of freedom (MDOF) systems some definitions may not be appropriate, even though they are used in the profession. Results also indicate that the structural global ductility of 4, commonly used for moment-resisting steel frames, cannot be justified based on this study. The ductility of MDOF structural systems and the corresponding equivalent SDOF systems is studied. The global ductility values are very different for the two representations. The ductility reduction factor $F_{\mu}$ is also estimated. For a given frame, the values of the $F_{\mu}$ parameter significantly vary from one earthquake to another, even though the maximum deformation in terms of the interstory displacement is roughly the same for all earthquakes. This is because the $F_{\mu}$ values depend on the amount of dissipated energy, which in turn depends on the plastic mechanism, formed in the frames as well as on the loading, unloading and reloading process at plastic hinges. Based on the results of this study, the Newmark and Hall procedure to relate the ductility reduction factor and the ductility parameter cannot be justified. The reason for this is that SDOF systems were used to model real frames in these studies. Higher mode effects were neglected and energy dissipation was not explicitly considered. In addition, it is not possible to observe the formation of a collapse mechanism in the equivalent SDOF systems. Therefore, the ductility parameter and the force reduction factor should be estimated by using the MDOF representation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.537-549
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• 2018

Using vertical links in eccentric braced frames is one of the best passive structural control approaches due to its effectiveness and practicality advantages. However, in spite of the subject importance there are limited studies which evaluate the seismic reliability and response reduction factor (R-factor) in this system. Therefore, the present study has been conducted to improve the current understanding about failure mechanism in the structural systems equipped with vertical links. For this purpose, following definition of demand and capacity response reduction factors, these parameters are computed for three different buildings (4, 8 and 12 stories) equipped with this system. In this regards, pushover and incremental dynamic analysis have been employed, and seismic reliability as well as multi-level response reduction factor according to the seismic demand and capacity of the frames have been derived. Based on the results, this system demonstrates high ductility and seismic energy dissipation capacity, and using the response reduction factor as high as 8 also provides acceptable reliability for the frame in the moderate and high earthquake intensities. This system can be used in original buildings as lateral load resisting system in addition to seismic rehabilitation of the existing buildings.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.339-347
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• 2022

Retrofitting in reinforced concrete structures has been one of the most important research topics in recent years. There are several methods for retrofitting RC moment-resisting frames. the most important of which is the use of steel bracing systems with yielding dampers. With a proper design of yielding dampers, the stiffness of RC frame systems can be increased to the required extent so that the ductility of the structure is not significantly reduced. In the present study, two experimental samples of a one-third scale RC moment-resisting frame were loaded in the laboratory. In these experiments, the retrofitting effect of RC frames was investigated using Non-uniform Slit Dampers (NSDs). Based on the experimental results of the samples, seismic parameters, i.e., stiffness, ductility, ultimate strength, strength reduction coefficient, and energy dissipation capacity, were compared. The results demonstrated that the retrofitted frame had very significant growth in terms of stiffness, ultimate strength, and energy dissipation capacity. Although the strength reduction factor and ductility decreased in the retrofitted sample. In general, the behavior of the frame with NSDs was evaluated better than the bare frame.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.105-116
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• 2002

In this paper, an analytical model to predict the resisting capacity of slender RC columns is introduced. Material and geometric nonlinearities are taken into account, and the layer approach is adopted to simulate the different material properties across the sectional depth. On the basis of the obtained numerical analysis results, an improved design equation as a function of concrete strength, slenderness ratio, steel ratio and eccentricity for slender RC columns, which can be used effectively in the preliminary design stage, is introduced. Finally, P-M interaction diagrams constructed by the introduced equation are compared with the ACI method with the objective of establishing the relative efficiencies of the introduced equation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.469-485
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• 2019

A numerical investigation regarding local (${\mu}_L$) and story (${\mu}_S$) ductility demand evaluation of steel buildings with perimeter moment resisting frames (PMRF) and interior gravity frames (IGF), is conducted in this study. The interior connections are modeled, firstly as perfectly pinned (PP), and then as semi-rigid (SR). Three models used in the SAC steel project, representing steel buildings of low-, mid-, and high-rise, are considered. The story ductility reduction factor ($R_{{\mu}S}$) as well as the ratio ($Q_{GL}$) of $R_{{\mu}S}$ to ${\mu}_L$ are calculated. ${\mu}_L$ and ${\mu}_S$, and consequently structural damage, at the PMRF are significant reduced when the usually neglected effect of SR connections is considered; average reductions larger than 40% are observed implying that the behavior of the models with SR connections is superior and that the ductility detailing of the PMRF doesn't need to be so stringent when SR connections are considered. $R_{{\mu}S}$ is approximately constant through height for low-rise buildings, but for the others it tends to increase with the story number contradicting the same proportion reduction assumed in the Equivalent Static Lateral Method (ESLM). It is implicitly assumed in IBC Code that the overall ductility reduction factor for ductile moment resisting frames is about 4; the results of this study show that this value is non-conservative for low-rise buildings but conservative for mid- and high-rise buildings implying that the ESLM fails evaluating the inelastic interstory demands. If local ductility capacity is stated as the basis for design, a value of 0.4 for $Q_{GL}$ seems to be reasonable for low- and medium-rise buildings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.141-159
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• 2016

Commonly in steel frames, steel beam and concrete slab are connected together by shear keys to work as a unit member which is called composite beam. When a composite beam is subjected to positive bending, flexural strength and stiffness of the beam can be increased due to "composite action". At the same time despite these advantages, composite action increases the strain at the beam bottom flange and it might affect beam plastic rotation capacity. This paper presents results of study on the rotation capacity of composite beam connected to Rectangular Hollow Section (RHS) column in the steel moment resisting frame buildings. Due to out-of-plane deformation of column flange, moment transfer efficiency of web connection is reduced and this results in reduction of beam plastic rotation capacity. In order to investigate the effects of width-to-thickness ratio (B/t) of RHS column on the rotation capacity of composite beam, cyclic loading tests were conducted on three full scale beam-to-column subassemblies. Detailed study on the different steel beam damages and concrete slab damages are presented. Experimental data showed the importance of this parameter of RHS column on the seismic behavior of composite beams. It is found that occurrence of severe concrete bearing crush at the face of RHS column of specimen with smaller width-to-thickness ratio resulted in considerable reduction on the rate of strain increase in the bottom flange. This behavior resulted in considerable improvement of rotation capacity of this specimen compared with composite and even bare steel beam connected to the RHS column with larger width-to-thickness ratio.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.239-258
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• 2012

In this paper, experimental investigations on high strength steel (HSS) stud connected steel-concrete composite (SCC) girders to understand the effect of shear connector density on their flexural behaviour is presented. SCC girder specimens were designed for three different shear capacities (100%, 85%, and 70%), by varying the number of stud connectors in the shear span. Three SCC girder specimens were tested under monotonic/quasi-static loading, while three similar girder specimens were subjected to non-reversal cyclic loading under simply supported end conditions. Details of casting the specimens, experimental set-up, and method of testing, instrumentation for the measurement of deflection, interface-slip and strain are discussed. It is found that SCC girder specimen designed for full shear capacity exhibits interface slip for loads beyond 25% of the ultimate load capacity. Specimens with lesser degree of shear connection show lower values of load at initiation of slip. Very good ductility is exhibited by all the HSS stud connected SCC girder specimens. It is observed that the ultimate moment of resistance as well as ductility gets reduced for HSS stud connected SCC girder with reduction in stud shear connector density. Efficiency factor indicating the effectiveness of high strength stud connectors in resisting interface forces is estimated to be 0.8 from the analysis. Failure mode is primarily flexure with fracturing of stud connectors and characterised by flexural cracking and crushing of concrete at top in the pure bending region. Local buckling in the top flange of steel beam was also observed at the loads near to failure, which is influenced by spacing of studs and top flange thickness of rolled steel section. One of the recommendations is that the ultimate load capacity can be limited to 1.5 times the plastic moment capacity of the section such that the post peak load reduction is kept within limits. Load-deflection behaviour for monotonic tests compared well with the envelope of load-deflection curves for cyclic tests. It is concluded from the experimental investigations that use of HSS studs will reduce their numbers for given loading, which is advantageous in case of long spans. Buckling of top flange of rolled section is observed at failure stage. Provision of lips in the top flange is suggested to avoid this buckling. This is possible in case of longer spans, where normally built-up sections are used.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.411-424
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• 2018

This study explores the inelastic behavior of systems with flexible base. The use of a single degree of freedom system (ESDOF) with equivalent ductility to represent the response of flexible base systems is discussed. Two different equations to compute equivalent ductility are proposed, one which includes the contribution of rigid body components, and other based on the overstrength of the structure. In order to asses the accuracy of ESDOF approach with the proposed equations, the behavior of a 10-story regular building with reinforced concrete (RC) moment resisting frames is studied. Local and global ductility capacity and demands are used to study the modifications introduced by base flexibility. Three soil types are considered with shear wave velocities of 70, 100 and 250 m/s. Soil-foundation stiffness is included with a set of springs on the base (impedance functions). Capacity curves of the building are computed with pushover analysis. In addition, non linear time history analysis are used to asses the ductility demands. Results show that ductility capacity of the soil-structure system including rigid body components is reduced. Base flexibility does not modify neither yield and maximum base shear. Equivalent ductility estimated with the proposed equations is fits better the results of the numerical model than the one considering elastoplastic behavior. Modification of beams ductility demand due to base flexibility are not constant within the structure. Some elements experience reduced ductility demands while other elements experience increments when flexible base is considered. Soil structure interaction produces changes in the relation between yield strength reduction factor and structure ductility demand. These changes are dependent on the spectral shape and the period of the system with fixed and flexible base.