• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.85-108
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• 2013

The research presented in this paper deals with the seismic protection of existing frame structures by means of passive energy dissipation. A displacement-based procedure to design dissipative bracings for the seismic protection of frame structures is proposed and some applications are discussed. The procedure is based on the displacement based design using the capacity spectrum method, no dynamic non linear analyses are needed. Two performance objective have been considered developing the procedure: protect the structure against structural damage or collapse and avoid non-structural damage as well as excessive base shear. The compliance is obtained dimensioning dissipative braces to limit global displacements and interstorey drifts. Reference is made to BRB braces, but the procedure can easily be extended to any typology of dissipative brace. The procedure has been validated through a comparison with nonlinear dynamic response of two 2D r.c. frames, one bare and one infilled. Finally a real application, on an existing 3D building where dissipative braces available on market are used, is discussed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.233-247
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• 2007

The insertion of steel braces has become a common technique to limit the deformability of steel framed buildings subjected to wind loads. However, when this technique is inadequate to keep floor accelerations within acceptable levels of human comfort, dampers placed in series with the steel braces can be adopted. To check the effectiveness of braces equipped with viscoelastic (VEDs) or friction dampers (FRDs), a numerical investigation is carried out focusing attention on a three-bay fifteen-storey steel framed building with K-braces. More precisely, three alternative structural solutions are examined for the purpose of controlling wind-induced vibrations: the insertion of additional diagonal braces; the insertion of additional diagonal braces equipped with dampers; the insertion of both additional diagonal braces and dampers supported by the existing K-braces. Additional braces and dampers are designed according to a simplified procedure based on a proportional stiffness criterion. A dynamic analysis is carried out in the time domain using a step-by-step initial-stress-like iterative procedure. Along-wind loads are considered at each storey assuming the time histories of the wind velocity, for a return period $T_r=5$ years, according to an equivalent wind spectrum technique. The behaviour of the structural members, except dampers, is assumed linear elastic. A VED and an FRD are idealized by a six-element generalized model and a bilinear (rigid-plastic) model, respectively. The results show that the structure with damped additional braces can be considered, among those examined, the most effective to control vibrations due to wind, particularly the floor accelerations. Moreover, once the stiffness of the additional braces is selected, the VEDs are slightly more efficient than the FRDs, because they, unlike the FRDs, dissipate energy also for small amplitude vibrations.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.525-535
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• 2019

The seismic performance of steel frames equipped with a particular type of bending dissipative braces (BDBs) having U elements, which has recently been introduced and tested by the authors, is investigated. For this purpose, two structural systems, i.e., simple and dual steel building frames, both with diagonal BDBs and different number of stories, are considered. After providing a design method of this new BDB, the detailed structural models are developed in the OpenSees platform to perform nonlinear dynamic analyses. Seismic performance factors like ductility, overstrength, response modification and deflection amplification factors are calculated using incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). In addition, to assess the damage probability of the structural models, their seismic fragilities are developed. The results show high energy dissipation capacity of both structural systems while the number of U elements needed for the bracing system of each story in the moment frames are less than those in the corresponding non-moment (simple) frames. The average response modification and deflection amplification factors for both structural schemes are obtained about 8.6 and 5.4, respectively, which are slightly larger than the corresponding recommended values of ASCE for the typical buckling-restrained braces (BRBs).

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.271-278
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• 2021

According to the capacity design of eccentrically braced frames (EBFs), non-dissipative members such as columns, link-exterior beams, and braces must remain within the elastic region when a fully-yielded and strain-hardened link transmits force to them. The current AISC 341 standard suggests a strain-hardening factor (SHF) of 1.25 for a link under capacity design, regardless of its properties. However, all the links in an EBF are not likely to yield simultaneously to the extent to which the overstrength corresponding to 1.25 times their expected strength is attained, especially for high-rise buildings. Considering this phenomenon, a technique to predict the SHF of links at the limit state of the structure is proposed in this paper. The exact prediction of the links' SHF could save structural quantities dramatically while achieving the principle of capacity design. To validate the effectiveness of this technique, SHF values predicted by conducting linear analysis were compared with those evaluated by nonlinear analysis. Furthermore, the maximum demand-to-capacity ratios of the non-dissipative members were calculated to verify whether they would remain elastic at the limit state of the structure. Consequently, EBFs designed by the proposed method showed substantially economical quantities through the exact prediction of the SHFs, and the intention of capacity design was successfully achieved.