• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.2
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• pp.151-164
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• 2023

The latest earthquake's costly repairs and economic disruption were brought on by excessive residual drift. Self-centering systems are one of the most efficient ways in the current generation of seismic resistance system to get rid of and reduce residual drift. The mechanics and behavior of the self-centering system in response to seismic forces were impacted by a number of important factors. The amount of post-tensioning (PT) force, which is often employed for the standing posture after an earthquake, is the first important component. The energy dissipater element is another one that has a significant impact on how the self-centering system behaves. Using the damper as a replaceable and affordable tool and fuse in self-centering frames has been recommended to boost energy absorption and dampening of structural systems during earthquakes. In this research, the self-centering steel moment frame connections are equipped with cushion flexural dampers (CFDs) as an energy dissipator system to increase energy absorption, post-yielding stiffness, and ease replacement after an earthquake. Also, it has been carefully considered how to reduce permanent deformations in the self-centering steel moment frames exposed to seismic loads while maintaining adequate stiffness, strength, and ductility. After confirming the FE model's findings with an earlier experimental PT connection, the behavior of the self-centering connection using CFD has been surveyed in this study. The FE modeling takes into account strands preloading as well as geometric and material nonlinearities. In addition to contact and sliding phenomena, gap opening and closing actions are included in the models. According to the findings, self-centering moment-resisting frames (SF-MRF) combined with CFD enhance post-yielding stiffness and energy absorption with the least amount of permeant deformation in a certain CFD thickness. The obtained findings demonstrate that the effective energy dissipation ratio (β), is increased to 0.25% while also lowering the residual drift to less than 0.5%. Also, this enhancement in the self-centering connection with CFD's seismic performance was attained with a respectable moment capacity to beam plastic moment capacity ratio.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.573-582
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• 2018

This study develops and numerically verifies an innovative seismically resilient bracing system. The proposed self-centering tension-only brace (SC-TOB) is composed of a tensioning system to provide a self-centering response, a frictional device for energy dissipation, and a high-strength steel cable as a bracing element. It is considered to be an improvement over the traditional self-centering braces in terms of lightness, high bearing capacity, load relief, and double-elongation capacity. In this paper, the mechanics of the system are first described. Governing equations deduced from the developed analytical model to predict the behavior of the system are then provided. The results from a finite element validation confirm that the SC-TOB performs as analytically predicted. Key parameters including the activation displacement and load, the self-centering parameter, and equivalent viscous damping are investigated, and their influences on the system behavior are discussed. Finally, a design procedure considering controlled softening behavior is developed and illustrated through a design example.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.89-96
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• 2023

The seismic retrofits of existing structures have been focused on the control of structural responses which can be achieved by providing displacement capacity through inelastic ductile action at supplemental devices. Due to their hysteretic characteristics, it is expected to sustain damage through repeated inelastic behaviors including residual deformation which might increase repair costs. To solve such drawbacks of existing yielding devices, this study proposes a self-centering disc spring brace that sustains large axial deformation without structural damage while providing stable energy dissipation capacity. The hysteretic behaviors of suggested brace are first investigated based on the quasi-static cyclic test procedure. Experimental results present the effective self-centering behavior and an analytical model is then suggested in order to reasonably capture the flag-shaped hysteretic behavior of the disc spring brace.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.341-351
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• 2020

Steel plate shear wall with self-centering energy dissipation braces (SPSW-SCEDB) is a lateral force-resisting system that exhibits flag-shaped hysteretic responses, which consists of two pre-pressed spring self-centering energy dissipation (PS-SCED) braces and a wall plate connected to horizontal boundary elements only. The present study conducted a series of cyclic tests to study the hysteretic performances of braces in SPSW-SCEDB and the effects of braces on the overall hysteretic characteristics of this system. The SPSW-SCEDB with PS-SCED braces only exhibits excellent self-centering capability and the energy loss caused by the large inclination angle of PS-SCED braces can be compensated by appropriately increasing the friction force. Under the combined effect of the two components, the SPSW-SCEDB exhibits a flag-shaped hysteretic response with large lateral resistance, good energy dissipation and self-centering capabilities. In addition, the wall plate is the primary energy dissipation component and the PS-SCED braces provide supplementary energy dissipation for system. The PS-SCED braces can provide up to 90% self-centering capability for the SPSW-SCEDB system. The compressive bearing capacity of the wall plate should be smaller than the horizontal remaining restoring force of the braces to achieve better self-centering effect of the system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.251-262
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• 2024

To improve the seismic behavior of composite column with high strength concrete-filled steel tubular in bridge engineering, four column specimens, including one specimen with vertical prestressing force and three specimens with tri-directional prestressing force, were conducted under low cyclic loading. Test parameters including axial compression ratio, degree of vertical prestressing and existence of prestressed steel strips were emphatically analyzed. Experimental results revealed that applying tri-directional prestressing force to column with high strength concrete-filled steel tubular produced more beneficial behavior in terms of ductility, energy-dissipation and self-centering capacity over that of specimens only with vertical prestress. Moreover, ultimate bearing capacity of composite column was improved with increase of degree of vertical prestress and external axial force, while ductility would be reduced. External axial force showed slight influence on the self-centering behavior. Finally, a calculation equation for predicting the shear capacity of the tri-directional prestressed composite column was proposed and the accuracy of the calculated results validated by experimental data.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.4
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• pp.391-403
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• 2023

In this study, a new type of self-centering beam-column joint with tapered steel plate links is proposed. Firstly, mechanical property of the basic joint (with the prestressed steel strands only, to provide the self-centering ability) and the combined joint (with both the prestressed steel strands and tapered steel plate links, to provide self-centering and energy dissipation simultaneously) is theoretically analyzed. Then, three joints with different dimensions and combinations of tapered plate links are designed and tested through a series of quasi-static cyclic loading tests. Test results show that a nearly bilinear elastic moment-rotation relationship for the basic joint is obtained. With the addition of tapered steel plate links, typical flag-shape hysteretic curves are obtained, which indicates good self-centering and energy dissipating ability of the combined joint. By installing multiple tapered plate links, stiffness and bearing capacity of the beam-column joint can be enhanced. The theoretical moment-rotation relationships agree well with the test results. A simplified macro model of the proposed joint is developed using OpenSees, which simulates reasonably well its hysteretic behavior.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.265-279
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• 2019

The self-centering capacity and energy dissipation performance have been recognized critically for increasing the seismic performance of structures. This paper presents an innovative steel moment frame with self-centering steel reinforced concrete (SRC) wall panel incorporating replaceable energy dissipation devices (SF-SCWD). The self-centering mechanism and energy dissipation mechanism of the structure were validated by cyclic tests. The earthquake resilience of wall panel has the ability to limit structural damage and residual drift, while the energy dissipation devices located at wall toes are used to dissipate energy and reduce the seismic response. The oriented post-tensioned strands provide additional overturning force resistance and help to reduce residual drift. The main parameters were studied by numerical analysis to understand the complex structural behavior of this new system, such as initial stress of post-tensioning strands, yield strength of damper plates and height-width ratio of the wall panel. The static push-over analysis was conducted to investigate the failure process of the SF-SCWD. Moreover, nonlinear time history analysis of the 6-story frame was carried out, which confirmed the availability of the proposed structures in permanent drift mitigation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.6
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• pp.683-697
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• 2019

The reinforced concrete (RC) structures usually suffer large residual displacements under strong motions. The large residual displacements may substantially reduce the anti-seismic capacity of structures during the aftershock and increase the difficulty and cost of structural repair after an earthquake. To reduce the adverse residual displacement, several self-centering energy dissipation braces (SCEBs) have been proposed to be installed to the RC structures. To investigate the seismic responses of the RC structures with SCEBs under the earthquake excitation, an extended Bouc-Wen model with degradation and self-centering effects is developed in this study. The extended model realized by MATLAB/Simulink program is able to capture the hysteretic characteristics of the RC structures with SCEBs, such as the energy dissipation and the degradation, especially the self-centering effect. The predicted hysteretic behavior of the RC structures with SCEBs based on the extended model, which used the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) for parameter identification, is compared with the experimental results. Comparison results show that the predicted hysteretic curves can be in good agreement with the experimental results. The nonlinear dynamic analyses using the extended model are then carried out to explore the seismic performance of the RC structures with SCEBs. The analysis results demonstrate that the SCEB can effectively reduce the residual displacements of the RC structures, but slightly increase the acceleration.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.139-150
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• 2022

In most self-center braces, decreasing residual deformation is possible only by increasing pretension force, which results in lower energy dissipation capacity. On the other hand, increasing energy dissipation capacity means higher values of residual deformation. The goal of this research was to find the best design for a self-centering buckling restrained brace (SC-BRB) system by balancing self-centering capability and energy dissipation. Three, six, and nine-story structures were investigated using OpenSees software and the TCL programming language to achieve this goal. For each height, 62 different SC-BRBs were considered using different values for the pretension force of cables, the area of the buckling restrained brace (BRB) core plate, and the yield stress of the core plate. The residual deformation and dissipated energy of all the models were calculated using nonlinear analyses after cyclic loading was applied. The optimum design for each height was determined among all the models and was compared to the structure equipped with the usual BRB. The residual deformation of the framed buildings was significantly reduced, according to the findings. Also the reduction of the energy dissipation was acceptable. The optimum design of SC-BRB in 6-story building has the most reduction percent in residual deformation, it can reduce residual deformation of building 83% while causing only a 57% of reduction in dissipated energy. The greatest reduction in residual deformation versus dissipated energy reduction was for the optimum SC-BRB design of 9-story building, results indicated that it can reduce residual deformation of building 69% while causing only a 42% of reduction in dissipated energy.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.251-261
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• 2018

Self-centering concentrically braced frames (SCCBFs) are emerging as high performance seismically resistant braced framing system, due to the capacity of withstanding strong earthquake attacks and promptly recovering after events. To get a further insight into the seismic performance of SCCBFs, systematical evaluations are currently conducted from the perspective of modal contributions. In this paper, the modal pushover analysis (MPA) approach is utilized to obtain the realistic seismic demands by summarizing the contribution of each single vibration mode. The MPA-based results are compared with the exact results from nonlinear response history analysis. The adopted SCCBFs originate from existing buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBF), which are also analyzed for purpose of comparison. In the analysis of these comparable framing systems, interested performance indices that closely relate to the structural damage degree include the interstory drift ratio, floor acceleration, and absorbed hysteretic energy. The study shows that the MPA approach produces acceptable predictions in comparison to the exact results for SCCBFs. In addition, the high-modes effect on the seismic behavior increases with the building height, and is more evident in the SCCBFs than the BRBFs.