Development and Validation of a Computational Model of the Self-Centering Beam Moment Frames (SCB-MF)

Although several self-centering seismic systems have been developed, their use in practice has been relatively limited. Complicated or unusual field construction, perceived initial cost premiums, and deformation incompatibility with the gravity framing are some of the issues that may be factors. A self-centering beam moment frame (SC-BMF) has been developed that mitigates several of these issues. The SCB-MF can be shop fabricated with self-contained restoring force, which eliminates deformation incompatibility and allows conventional field construction methods. The main focus of the paper is the development of a two-dimensional computational model in OpenSees, which can capture the salient behavioral features of the SCB-MF and its components. In addition to the development of the computational model, this paper also describes the SCB-MF concepts followed by a brief description of a large-scale experimental program conducted to validate the performance and study the global and local behavior of the SCBs in depth. Finally, the computational model is validated by comparing the important response quantities of the SCB-MF with the experimental data.