Seismic Performance Assessment of Multitiered Steel Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames Designed to 2010 and 2022 AISC Seismic Provisions
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 9
Abstract
This paper aims to evaluate the seismic response of multitiered buckling-restrained braced frames (MT-BRBFs), assess the design provisions specified by the 2022 AISC Seismic Provisions for multitiered BRBFs, and propose improvements to these provisions. A set of 17 frames is first selected by varying bracing configuration, frame height, number of tiers, and tier height ratio. The frames are then designed in accordance with the 2010 and 2022 AISC Seismic Provisions. A numerical parametric study is performed under scaled ground motion accelerations. The results of the parametric study show that when the frames are designed to the 2010 provisions, the frame inelastic deformation tends to concentrate in the tier(s) undergoing tensile yielding due to their lower postyield stiffness, compared to BRBs yielding in compression, which creates unequal story shear, contributed by braces, in adjacent tiers with BRBs in tension and compression and engages column flexure to compensate for unbalanced brace story shears between tiers. Columns experience yielding and even buckling in several cases due to combined flexural and axial load demands. MT-BRBFs designed to the 2022 AISC Seismic Provisions exhibit a more uniform deformation response between tiers and relatively lower flexural demands in their columns. However, these provisions may overestimate column in-plane flexural demands (on the order of 3), resulting in potentially uneconomical design solutions. On the basis of the numerical simulations, modifications are proposed to compression BRBs’ adjusted strength to better estimate column in-plane flexure and tier deformation while achieving an economical column design. The proposed improvements are validated using dynamic analyses.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
Financial support for this study was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The first author was financially supported in part by the University of Alberta, NSERC Canada Graduate Master’s Scholarship, Government of Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship, DIALOG Gordan F. Anderson Scholarship, Noman & Reid Family Graduate Scholarship, and Brain Gerbrandt Memorial Graduate Scholarship. Finally, the support of the CISC Centre for Steel Education and Research (The Steel Centre) at the University of Alberta is greatly acknowledged. The authors expresses sincere appreciation to Professor Robert Tremblay of Polytechnique Montreal for his input on the proposed design recommendations, and Dr. Morteza Dehghani for sharing BRB test data.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 9 • September 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 10, 2023
Accepted: Mar 18, 2024
Published online: Jul 2, 2024
Published in print: Sep 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Dec 2, 2024
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