• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 2008

Buckling-Restrained Braces (BRB) has been developed to inhibit buckling and exhibit stable behavior underboth tensile and compresive cycles. In this study, an experime nt has been conducted by using the strength of its members and loading protocols as parameters to evaluate the structural performance of BRB (without in-filed concrete). Specimens are composed of an inner core and an outer tube with diferent steel strengths. When high-strength steels were used as iner cores, the ductility of BRB decreased, and the requirements (Cumulative Plastic Ductility) of the AISC Seismic Provisions were not satisfied. however, when high-strength steels were used as inner cores instead of conventional strength stel cores, the maximum capacity increased significantly and displayed similar performance in total energy dissipation.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.81-96
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• 2019

The behavior of a new Three-Tube Buckling-Restrained Brace (TTBRB) with circumference pre-stress (${\sigma}_{{\theta},pre}$) in core tube are investigated through a verified finite element model. The TTBRB is composed of one core tube and two restraining tubes. The core tube is in the middle to provide the axial stiffness, to carry the axial load and to dissipate the earthquake energy. The two restraining tubes are at inside and outside of the core tube, respectively, to restrain the global and local buckling of the core tube. Based on the yield criteria of fringe fiber, a design method for restraining tubes is proposed. The applicability of the proposed design equations are verified by TTBRBs with different radius-thickness ratios, with different gap widths between core tube and restraining tubs, and with different levels of ${\sigma}_{{\theta},pre}$. The outer and inner tubes will restrain the deformation of the core tube in radius direction, which causes circumference stress (${\sigma}_{\theta}$) in the core tube. Together with the ${\sigma}_{{\theta},pre}$ in the core tube that is applied through interference fit of the three tubes, the yield strength of the core tube in the axial direction is improved from 160 MPa to 235 MPa. Effects of gap width between the core tube and restraining tubes, and ${\sigma}_{{\theta},pre}$ on hysteretic behavior of TTBRBs are presented. Analysis results showed that the gap width and the ${\sigma}_{{\theta},pre}$ can significantly affect the hysteretic behavior of a TTBRB.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.401-408
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• 2018

Concentric braced frames are commonly used in steel structures to withstand lateral forces. One of the drawbacks of these systems is the possibility that the braces are buckled under compressive loads, which leads to sudden reduction of the bearing capacity of the structure. To overcome this deficiency, the idea of the Buckling Restrained Brace (BRB) has been proposed in recent years. The length of a BRB steel core can have a significant effect on its overall behavior, since it directly influences the energy dissipation capability of the member. In this study, numerical methods have been utilized for investigation of the optimum length of BRB steel cores. For this purpose, BRBs with different lengths placed into several two-dimensional framing systems with various heights were considered. Then, the Response History Analysis (RHA) was performed, and finally, the optimum steel core length of BRBs and its effect on the responses of the overall system were investigated. The results show that the shortest length where failure does not occur is the best length that can be proposed as the optimum steel core length of BRBs. This length can be obtained through a formula which has been derived and verified in this study by both analytical and numerical methods.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.201-215
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• 2019

In this research, the behavior of tube-in-tube BRBs (TiTBRBs) has been investigated. In a typical TiTBRB, the yielding core tube is located inside the outer restraining one to dissipate energy through extensive plastic deformation, while the outer restraining tube remains essentially elastic. With the aid of FE analyses, the monotonic and cyclic behavior of the proposed TiTBRBs have been studied as individual brace elements. Subsequently, a detailed finite element model of a representative single span-single story frame equipped with such a TiTBRB has been constructed and both monotonic and cyclic behavior of the proposed TiTBRBs have been explored under the application of the AISC loading protocol at the braced frame level. With the aid of backbone curves derived from the FE analyses, a simplified frame model has been developed and verified through comparison with the results of the detailed FE model. It has been shown that, the simplified model is capable of predicting closely the cyclic behavior of the TiTBRB frame and hence can be used for design purposes. Considering type of connection detail used in a frame, the TiTBRB member which behave satisfactorily at the brace element level under cyclic loading conditions, may suffer global buckling due to the flexural demand exerted from the frame to the brace member at its ends. The proposed TiTBRB suit tubular members of offshore structures and the application of such TiTBRB in a typical offshore platform has been introduced and studied in a single frame level using detailed FE model.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.491-506
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• 2014

Buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) have excellent hysteretic behavior while buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) are susceptible to residual lateral deformations. To address this drawback, a novel self-centering (SC) BRB with Basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) composite tendons is presented in this work. The configuration and mechanics of proposed BFRP-SC-BRBs are first discussed. Then an 1840-mm-long BFRP-SC-BRB specimen is fabricated and tested to verify its hysteric and self-centering performance. The tested specimen has an expected flag-shaped hysteresis character, showing a distinct self-centering tendency. During the test, the residual deformation of the specimen is only about 0.6 mm. The gap between anchorage plates and welding ends of bracing tubes performs as expected with the maximum opening value 6 mm when brace is in compression. The OpenSEES software is employed to conduct numerical analysis. Experiment results are used to validate the modeling methodology. Then the proposed numerical model is used to evaluate the influence of initial prestress, tendon diameter and core plate thickness on the performance of BFRP-SC-BRBs. Results show that both the increase of initial prestress and tendon diameters can obviously improve the self-centering effect of BFRP-SC-BRBs. With the increase of core plate thickness, the energy dissipation is improved while the residual deformation is generated when the core plate strength exceeds initial prestress force.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.47-55
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• 2003

This study proposed a convenient seismic design procedure for buckling-restrained braced frames based on the equivalent energy concept. The design process begins with the computation of input energy from response spectrum. Then the elastic energy and plastic energy are computed based on the equal energy concept. The computed plastic energy is distributed to each story along energy distribution ratio and the cross-sectional area of each brace is computed so that all the plastic energy is dissipated by the brace. The proposed procedure was applied to the design of three-, six-, and twenty-story steel frames with buckling-restrained braces, and artificial earthquake records were used for verification of the proposed method. According to analysis results, top story displacements of the low-rise structure satisfies the given target displacement however that of the twenty-story structure was much smaller than the given target displacement.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.207-217
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• 2015

A concentrically braced steel frame is a very efficient structural system because it requires relatively smaller amount of materials to resist lateral forces. However, primarily developed as a structural system to resist wind loads based on an assumption that the structure behaves elastically, a concentrically braced frame possibly experiences the deterioration in energy dissipation after brace buckling and the brittle failure of braces and connections when earthquake loads cause inelastic behavior. Consequently, plastic deformation is concentrated in the floor where brace buckling occurs first, which can lead to the rupture of the structure. This study suggests reinforcing H-shaped braces with non-welded cold-formed stiffeners to restrain flexure and buckling and resist tensile force and compressive force equally.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.106-114
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• 2006

This study proposed the applicability of inverse stiffness method on the seismic design for steel frame with buckling restrained braces and the design results were compared with former research's. The concept of this method is simple and efficient. Furthermore it is able to reflect the high mode's effect and control the ductility factors of each story individually. Design results using the proposed method showed that according to increase of the given target drift, the areas of brace generally decreased but partially increased in some stories of the tall structure with very large ductility. And the post yield stiffness ratio's variation had more effect on the design results in the small post yield stiffness ratio.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.621-636
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• 2013

Response modification factor is one of the seismic design parameters to consider nonlinear performance of building structures during strong earthquake, in conformity with the point that many seismic design codes led to reduce the loads. In the present paper it's tried to evaluate the response modification factors of dual moment resistant frame with buckling restrained braced (BRB). Since, the response modification factor depends on ductility and overstrength; the nonlinear static analysis, nonlinear dynamic analysis and linear dynamic analysis have been done on building models including multi-floors and different brace configurations (chevron V, invert V, diagonal and X bracing). The response modification factor for each of the BRBF dual systems has been determined separately, and the tentative value of 10.47 has been suggested for allowable stress design method. It is also included that the ductility, overstrength and response modification factors for all of the models were decreased when the height of the building was increased.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.113-123
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• 2023

A novel type of buckling restrained brace with built-up angle steel was developed. The core segment was formed by welding angle steel, and the middle section was reduced by cutting technology to solve the problem that the end of BRB was easy to buckle. The experimental program has been undertaken to study the performance of BRBs with different unbonded materials (silica gel, kraft paper) and different filler materials (ordinary concrete, full light-weight concrete). Four specimens were designed and fabricated for low cycle reciprocating load tests to simulate horizontal seismic action. The failure mode, hysteretic curves, tension-compression unbalance coefficient and other mechanical parameters were compared and analyzed. The finite element software ABAQUS was used to conduct numerical simulation, and the simulation results were compared with the experimental phenomena. The test results indicated that the hysteretic curve of each specimen was plump. Sustaining cumulative strains of each specimen was greater than the minimum value of 200 required by the code, which indicated the ductility of BRB was relatively good. The energy dissipation coefficient of the specimen with silica gel as unbonded material was about 13% higher than that with kraft paper. The experimental results were in good agreement with the simulation results.