Journal of Structural Engineering

Thin-walled partially concrete-filled steel tubular (PCFT) columns have come to be used as the piers of elevated-girder bridges widely in Japan because of their excellent seismic performance: strength, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity. To consider this excellent seismic performance in design, it is essential to provide an analysis method to assess the ultimate behavior of the thin-walled PCFT columns by considering the cyclic local buckling of the steel tube, the behavior of the confined infilled concrete with cracks, and the interface action between the steel tube and infilled concrete. Up to the present, the shell–solid element model analysis has been the only numerical method that can be used to consider these complicated behaviors of PCFT columns in a direct manner. However, the use of this model requires unrealistically long computation time and often encounters numerical difficulty to obtain convergent solutions when applied to large structural systems such as the elevated-girder bridge systems with the multiple thin-walled PCFT piers. The objective of the present research is to propose a practical three-dimensional fiber-based model with a failure segment that is computationally efficient, yet accurate enough to assess the ultimate behavior of PCFT columns. This model was calibrated by an optimization technique, only referring to the in-plane hysteretic behavior of each single PCFT column calculated by the shell–solid element model analysis. The calibrated model is applicable to the seismic analysis of large structural systems with multiple PCFT piers under arbitrary multidirectional seismic accelerations. The accuracy and numerical efficiency of the proposed fiber-based model in the analysis of PCFT columns were confirmed extensively by the comparison to the shell–solid element model analysis results and the results of tests, such as cyclic loading tests and shake table tests.

The experimental behavior of lap-spliced reinforced concrete beams subjected to high strain rates on the order of $1.0{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ was studied. Eleven companion pairs of beams, each consisting of two nominally identical specimens, were designed, built, and tested under low and high strain rates. The physical and material properties of the companion pairs were selected based on a range of design parameters known to significantly influence bond strength (i.e., the size of the spliced reinforcement, cover depth, concrete strength, and presence of transverse reinforcement). Results of the experiments demonstrated that although the underlying flexural response and nature of bond splitting failure was not affected by dynamic loads, the strength and stiffness of reinforced concrete beams was significantly improved when subjected to blast loading. Part of this increase was attributed to improvements in the load carrying capacity of the lap splices due to high strain rate effects. An average dynamic increase factor (DIF) applied to a bond of 1.28 was measured. Regardless of the strain rate, it was found that the bond strength of splices with and without transverse reinforcement increased in proportion to the ratios of the minimum cover depth and the splice length to bar diameter, respectively.

This paper revisited the effect of soil–structure interaction (SSI) on the nonlinear response of multistory buildings with a probabilistic approach. In particular, this study showed that the magnitude of SSI effects on the strength demand of a multiple-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) system stems from the effect of SSI on the corresponding equivalent single-degree-of-freedom (eSDOF) system. This seems to negate several past studies on flexible-base MDOF systems. In fact, such studies did not quantify the split between contributions of SSI effects to the corresponding eSDOF system and to those unique aspects of MDOF systems that cannot be represented by the eSDOF system. Doing so in the present paper showed that the effect of SSI on the inelastic response of MDOF systems can be well predicted based on the knowledge of the SSI effect on the response of SDOF systems, i.e., the share of MDOF aspects of the system in this effect is insignificant. Based on this finding, a procedure is proposed to determine the strength demand of a flexible-base shear building given a target ductility demand.

Optimization and intelligent manufacturing are of particular interest and important to improve the severe situation of excessive mass and uneven stress distribution for three-branch joints in treelike structures. In this work, the optimal shape of the three-branch joints under vertical load is studied by topology optimization method, and the complex topology optimization joint is manufactured using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology because it is difficult to produce by conventional manufacturing processes. First, the original model is optimized by using the OptiStruct solver in HyperWorks version 14.0 (64-bit) software, and the element density cloud map and element isosurface map of the model are obtained. Then, the static behaviors of the topology optimization model are compared with those of the hollow spherical joint model which is commonly used in engineering and those of the bionic joint model based on empirical design. Finally, the 3D printing technology is used to produce the topology optimization joint model, the hollow spherical joint model, and the bionic joint model. The process of production is characterized by converting the finite-element file of topology optimization joint into a standard template library (STL) file and then reading it into the slicing software to generate the 3D printing commands. The results show that the topological optimization joint has the most balanced stress distribution and the best static behaviors, which can provide reference for the design of joints in treelike structures. It is effective and feasible to use the combined technology of topology optimization and 3D printing to design and manufacture three-branch joints.

The analysis of frames and the determination of their collapse mechanisms and related loads are desirable for structural designers and also attractive for researchers. Plastic analysis method is one of the most effective and most used methods in this field. Analysis of moment frames has been carried out with the aid of simple plastic analysis by numerous researchers. However, analysis of braced frames due to the buckling of braces and the presence of axial and shear forces simultaneously in the frame members is very complex, and therefore, little research has been done in this area. In this research, a special procedure for the plastic analysis of steel braced frames has been presented. Using the genetic algorithm (GA) and necessary optimizations, a program has been proposed to determine the failure mechanism and collapse load of steel braced frames based on this procedure. The comparison of the results with pushover analysis shows that the proposed procedure is very accurate and is able to determine the critical failure mode and its corresponding load. The genetic algorithm also facilitates the use of this procedure, resulting in very high speed and limited effort of the hardware system to determine the load factor and failure mode of complex braced frames.

This paper presents a nonlinear static analysis of a liquid-containment toroidal shell subjected to linearly hydrostatic pressure, including the effect of constraint volume for the toroidal shell and internal compressible liquid. The geometry of the liquid-containment toroidal shell is defined as a circular cross section. The principle of virtual work was used to formulate the nonlinear finite-element model, including the fluid-structure interaction effect for the liquid-containment toroidal shell system. The formulation was written in an appropriate form in order to reduce the computation time. An iterative procedure was used to solve the nonlinear numerical solutions for the statically deformed configuration of the shell and changes in internal pressure. The numerical result from a commercial program was used to verify the proposed nonlinear finite element method. The effects of bulk modulus of internal liquid, initial internal pressure, sea water depth, thickness, and cross-sectional radius of the liquid-containment toroidal shell on the static displacement and internal pressure responses of the liquid-containment toroidal shell are investigated and discussed in this paper.

Special-shaped multicell composite concrete-filled steel tube (CFT) columns have been used in several super-high-rise buildings. However, research on special-shaped multicell CFT columns under low cyclic loading remains limited. Thus, seven $1/30$-scaled specimens were designed for a low cyclic loading test. The parameters are four cross-section structures (i.e., the basic type, angle steel reinforced type, circular steel tube reinforced type, and simplified type) and three loading directions (i.e., the long axis, short axis, and 45°). The failure modes, hysteretic behavior, bearing capacity, ductility, and energy-dissipation capacity were analyzed. The results show that the angle steel and circular steel tube significantly increase the bearing capacity and energy dissipation. The circular steel tube has a better effect than the angle steel. The bearing capacity of the simplified-type specimens decreases but the ductility increases. When the loading direction changes from the long axis to the short axis, the ductility gradually increases, whereas the bearing capacity and energy-dissipation capacity gradually decrease. The optimized models of the fiber-based method (FBM) were proposed to predict the $N\text{-}M$ curves and $F\text{-}\mathit{\Delta }$ curves. The concrete constitutive relationship in the multicell CFT was proposed based on the separation model by analyzing the features of multicell CFT columns and was used in the optimized fiber-based method. The numerical simulation models were established using Abaqus to simulate the $F\text{-}\mathit{\Delta }$ curves for FBM models and test. The calculation results show good consistency with the test.

The seismic behavior of shear walls is significantly influenced by the axial load ratio (ALR), and a maximum ALR limit is generally specified by current seismic design code. To achieve improved performance under a high axial load ratio, steel fiber–reinforced concrete (SFRC) composite shear walls with improved lateral bearing and deformation capacity under high ALRs were developed in this work. Owing to their excellent seismic performance, SFRC composite shear walls are recommended for use in earthquake-prone regions. However, current specifications of ALR may lead to considerable material waste associated with SFRC composite shear walls. To evaluate the influence of different ALRs on seismic performance, three SFRC composite shear walls ($\mathrm{ALR}=0.36–0.68$) were designed for testing under quasi-static cyclically increasing lateral loads and a constant vertical load until failure. The results revealed that the SFRC composite shear wall exhibits good seismic performance under high ALR. In addition, (1) the bearing capacity increased significantly and rigidity degradation was gradual; (2) the proportion of shear deformation increased; and (3) the development of bottom curvature decreased with increasing ALR. Furthermore, the applicability of the current code to the ultimate lateral bearing capacity is discussed.

This paper presents a numerical modeling strategy based on the finite-element method (FEM) for the analysis of a temporary residential floor prototype composed of three jointed composite floor sandwich panels made of glass fiber–reinforced polymer (GFRP) skins, a polyurethane foam core (PU), and pultruded U-shaped GFRP profiles used as ribs. Panels are supported on a GFRP pultruded frame structure. A three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear finite-element approach was adopted considering geometric and material nonlinearities and adherent surfaces interaction. The numerical simulations were coherently validated with experimental results, showing their ability to capture the mechanical performance of a single panel (which includes the possibility of local instability on the GFRP skin), two and three panels working together, and the whole prototype. A series of parametric studies was conducted using the adopted numerical model in order to assess (1) the influence of the ribs on the panel stiffness and on the shear stresses distribution through the sandwich panel’s components, (2) the flexibility of the designed connections between jointed panels and frame structure, and (3) the influence of geometry in the modular housing.

In the latest North American specification for the design of cold-formed steel (CFS) structural members and the Australian/New Zealand standard for cold-formed steel structures, an empirical approach is specified to design beams with web holes in shear. Recently, an alternative based on the direct strength method (DSM) of design for shear for perforated beams with the aspect ratio (shear-span/web-depth) of 1.0 has been proposed. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the proposal and an experimental validation using results from a test series on channels with a shear span aspect ratio of 2.0 and with various square and circular web opening sizes conducted at the University of Sydney, and other experimental data collected from the literature. It is proven that the earlier proposal reliably predicts the shear strength of CFS perforated members with central square and circular web holes and with an aspect ratio up to 2.0. An approximate equation to determine shear buckling coefficients is derived to allow shear buckling forces, an input of the DSM design equation, to be computed directly on the basis of geometrical dimensions of perforated members. Finite-element models of the tests are also developed and validated to study the variation of the shear strengths with respect to the hole sizes where considerable shear strengths of members with substantially large web holes extending up to the full depths of the webs are observed. Further, the experimental shear strengths are used to calibrate the DSM-based proposal. It is confirmed that the resistance factors for shear design being used in the current North American specification and Australian/New Zealand standard are applicable.

Steel beam-columns subjected to cyclic loading (such as during earthquakes) may exhibit local buckling, which results in effective cross-sectional softening and localization of deformation. These phenomena are critical from the standpoint of performance and collapse assessment. Fiber-based elements are attractive for simulating beam-column response because they capture P-M interactions and the spread of plasticity and can be generalized to different cross sections from material-level calibrations. However, conventional fiber models typically employ softening constitutive material laws to represent local buckling. Without a regularizing length scale, this results in a nonelliptic boundary-value problem, leading to severe mesh dependence. A two-dimensional nonlocal fiber-based beam-column model is presented to address this issue for steel wide-flange sections subject to combinations of axial and cyclic lateral loads. The methodology includes the following elements: (1) a constitutive material model that is able to represent inelastic cyclic local buckling, (2) a nonlocal strain formulation that incorporates a physically based length scale, and (3) suggested practices for input selection and parameter calibration. Forty-two continuum finite-element models (encompassing a range of parameters including cross section, axial load ratio, moment gradient, and loading history) are constructed to inform as well as validate the presented methodology. The methodology simulates various aspects (load-deformation response, localized deformation, and column axial shortening) with accuracy and without mesh dependence. This is in contrast to conventional fiber models that exhibit severe mesh dependence. Limitations are discussed.

Long bridge cables are vulnerable to unanticipated large vibrations induced by earthquakes, wind, and traffic loads. The use of various dampers, including inerter dampers (IDs), as an effective approach for the mitigation of cable vibration has been extensively studied in recent years. This work presents an innovative strategy wherein an electromagnetic shunt damper (EMSD) is applied to emulate the mechanical behavior of traditional IDs. The proposed EMSD–ID design exploits analogous relationships between mechanical and electrical systems and provides unprecedented efficiency and flexibility in exerting large inertance. A full-scale EMSD–ID prototype was designed and fabricated, and its effective control performance was verified in a laboratory experiment involving a cable-stayed bridge model with a length of 135 m.

This paper proposes a simplified finite-element analysis (FEA) method to analyze the axial compression behavior of rectangular concrete columns confined by interlocking multispiral reinforcements. The proposed method uses an elastic finite-element analysis to approximate the distribution and ultimate state of confining stress in each core concrete element, which is substituted into the Mander confined concrete model to obtain the integrated compressive curve of a column. Verification of the proposed method against the test results of four four-spiral and four five-spiral reinforcement columns showed good agreement. Parametric studies of the five-spiral reinforcement showed that for the same amount of transverse reinforcement, a column with a larger confined area, which closely depends on the radius ratio of the small to the large spirals ($r_s/r_b$), has better axial load-carrying capacity and confinement efficiency. To achieve economic confinement design, the volumetric ratio of large spirals to small spirals (${\rho }_s/{\rho }_b$) to have the concurrent yielding of both large and small spirals was found to be around 1.0, 0.8, and 0.7 for $r_s/r_b=1/2$, 1/3, and 1/4, respectively.

Physics-based fragilities for damage, loss, and resilience analysis are needed to model a community to earthquakes, hurricane winds, tornados, or floods. Currently, most building flood fragilities such as those available in assessment tools such as HAZUS-MH do not account for the hydrodynamic forces caused by surge and waves, only the depth of a flood. In this paper, a methodology to evaluate forces on all building components including windows, doors, walls, and floor systems for elevated coastal buildings under a combination of hurricane surge and waves is proposed. The model was validated by comparing vertical and horizontal forces from existing laboratory test results of a one-tenth-scale elevated structure under wave loading. A full-scale wood-frame residential building was then modeled as an example to illustrate the method and is intended to be representative of an elevated coastal structure in a typical coastal region of the United States. The hurricane was modeled as a combination of two intensity parameters, namely significant wave height and surge level at the building location and is better able to represent the loading condition and thus damage to the structure than static flood alone. Fragility surfaces for four damage states for the building as a whole were generated as a damage combination of all damageable building components. Finally, a comparison of the loss estimated using the fragility surfaces versus the current loss model in HAZUS-MH is provided to illustrate the effect on loss estimates when including wave height in predicting damage for near-coast buildings under hurricane wave and surge. By calibrating the physics-based fragilities with empirical data, the surface fragilities developed in this paper are ready to use in HAZUS-MH or other loss and resilience-focused analysis at the community level for coastal communities subjected to both waves and storm surge during hurricanes.

Neither the 2015 National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) nor the 2014 Canadian wood design standard, Engineering design in wood, explicitly provides seismic design guidelines for wood-frame buildings on a concrete podium. The NBCC commentary and ASCE standard, Minimum design loads and associated criteria for buildings and other structures, provide different criteria for designing podium buildings using a two-step analysis procedure. Of specific interest in this paper is which criterion is more suitable for wood-frame podium buildings. Wood-frame podium buildings with different stiffness ratios, mass ratios, and period ratios were designed with two-step analysis procedure in accordance with the NBCC and Canadian wood design standard. Nonlinear time history dynamic analysis was conducted using the selected earthquake ground motions based on the guidelines proposed for NBCC. Pure wood-frame buildings were also analyzed as benchmark cases for evaluating the seismic performance of midrise podium buildings designed with a two-step analysis procedure. The analysis results show that neither the criterion in the NBCC commentary nor that in the ASCE standard can guarantee that podium buildings designed using the two-step analysis procedure meet the performance-based seismic design criterion. An empirical criterion based on the normalized stiffness ratio and normalized mass ratio was developed. It is concluded that when the normalized stiffness ratio is equal to or greater than 10 times the normalized mass ratio, the buildings designed with the two-step analysis procedure are able to meet the performance-based seismic design criterion.

Structural performance against wind hazards is necessary in modern tall building design. In current wind engineering practice, most efforts focus on structural safety, such as the avoidance of large deformations. Besides structural safety, other wind-induced inconveniences, such as downtime caused by loss of operability after a major wind event, have rarely been investigated. Furthermore, discomfort to occupants is often caused by less intense but more frequent winds. Consequently, the current wind load and design approach, predominantly based on extreme wind events, is not sufficient. This paper proposes a simulation framework for life-cycle downtime analysis of tall buildings. The approach combines three typical wind-induced inconveniences: occupants’ discomfort, failure of key equipment, and nonstructural damages on the facade, which can lead to whole or partial loss of building functionality and, in turn, downtime. They are classified into two categories: frequent wind hazard inducing disturbance and extreme wind hazards causing damage. In the latter, both parent wind speed distribution and extreme wind distribution are found from data analysis, enabling evaluation of hazard occurrence probability. This study culminates with the estimation of a tall building’s life-cycle downtime through year-by-year downtime accumulation. The result will be used to determine an optimal building orientation because wind directionality effect is not negligible in a typical local climate.

The shear strength of composite circular concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) and reinforced concrete–filled steel tube (RCFST) structural members was investigated using finite-element analysis and existing test data. Results showed how a compression strut develops in concrete infill under shear load in the presence of low shear spans and provided the basis for proposing a mechanics-based shear strength equation for those composite members. The proposed equation quantifies the contribution of that strut to total strength as a function of shear span and accounts for the interactions between the steel tube and the concrete infill. The effectiveness of the proposed equation was compared with shear test data from the existing literature and was found to be safe; it accurately captures the contribution of the steel tube to the total strength and conservatively estimates that of the concrete.

Opportunities to explore new structural behavior are made possible by incorporating sensors and actuators in civil-engineering infrastructure. Using analogies, structural behavior can be improved through the mimicry of a living organism. This is called biomimetics, and its study inspires functional goals for structures. While most biomimetic research focuses on geometric forms, this paper describes a study of how behavior goals of active structures can be inspired by nature. Tensegrity structures, systems of struts and cables in which mechanisms are stabilized by self-stress, are convenient test structures for active control and adaptation. In this situation, adaptation involves changing the damaged structure to satisfy design requirements as closely as possible. Although adaptation improves structural behavior, the prior state of the structure cannot always be fully restored to satisfy design requirements. Newly enhanced algorithms for control resulting cases for reuse exhibit the behavior-biomimetic characteristics of learning through reducing future execution time. Advanced active-control algorithms improve damage-mitigation performance.

Various studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of employing different fire protection strategies in reducing damage and losses associated with fire events in conventional buildings. However, studies geared toward understanding structural vulnerability due to fire following an earthquake, as a result of failure of the fire protection systems in a seismic event, are scarce. This study investigated the fire performance of a steel structure in two different scenarios: without a prior earthquake event, and with residual deformation from an earthquake event. To understand the fire performance of a structure that has been subjected to an earthquake, three different levels of seismic intensities were considered, represented by interstory drift ratios. To realistically simulate the structural behavior when subjected to elevated temperature, a hybrid fire simulation method was adopted in which a column was modeled physically and subjected to temperature and mechanical loads, whereas the remainder of the structure was modeled numerically. Due to laboratory constraints, a small-scale structure was used to illustrate the developed framework and demonstrate the potential effect of an earthquake on fire performance of a building. The test results showed that smaller axial deformation but larger force developed in the physical column when it was not subjected to an interstory drift prior to the fire event. On the other hand, columns with higher levels of residual interstory drift experienced larger vertical deformation and smaller axial force, and failed earlier than those with lower interstory drift. Based on the preliminary findings from this study, further investigations are recommended to quantify the effect of interstory drifts from seismic events on fire vulnerability of various types and configurations of structural steel systems. Full-scale hybrid simulations can serve as a valuable tool to gain insight into the behavior of these various systems.

Falling debris may initiate or promote the progressive collapse of a structure. To mitigate progressive collapse under falling debris impact, steel frames with five types of beam–column connections were tested. Both single and multiple impacts were applied to each specimen to obtain dynamic responses, load-resisting mechanisms, and impact resistance. The results showed that a typical impact process was divided into three stages. The falling debris impact was mainly resisted by the inertia effect in the initial stage and by deformation in subsequent stages. The majority of the external work applied to the system was absorbed by bending deformation, especially by the plastic rotation at midspan of the beam. All the specimens had the same global deformation shape under the midspan impact scenario. The evolution of catenary action in specimens with different beam–column connections was similar. Catenary action was shown to significantly improve the load-carrying capacity and energy absorption in specimens with high levels of rotational ductility. Greater load-carrying capacity did not offer greater impact resistance. Load-carrying capacity and ductility both played a significant role in the energy absorption capability of the specimens.

This paper investigates the behavior of high-strength circular concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) short columns. An experimental database consisting of 87 tests conducted on high-strength circular CFST short columns was compiled, and gaps in the existing research were identified. A total of 20 tests were then conducted to address the gaps in the database. The test parameters were the diameter-to-thickness ratio of the steel tubes $D/t$ , the yield stress of steel $F_y$, and the compressive strength of concrete $f_c^{\prime }$. The tests indicated that the strength of high-strength circular CFST short columns increases with increasing $F_y$ and $f_c^{\prime }$, but decreases with increasing $D/t$. All tested high-strength circular CFST short columns had acceptable ductility. Four of the specimens did not have any strength degradation, while the other 16 specimens retained at least 70% of their strength at strains of 5%. Results from the tests conducted in this research were combined with those from the compiled database; the combined results were used to evaluate the applicability of current design equations for estimating the cross-sectional strength of high-strength circular CFST columns. The evaluations indicated that the Japanese code provides the most accurate estimation.

Effective stability bracing of beams can be achieved by either preventing lateral movement of the compression flange or restraining twist of the beam cross section. Bracing that restrains twist is aptly referred to as torsional bracing. Adequate stability bracing must satisfy both stiffness and strength requirements. The torsional brace strength requirement in the latest edition of the AISC specification (2016) was significantly changed from the previous edition of the specification (2010). This paper presents a parametric study on the strength requirements of beam torsional bracing. An overview of the many factors affecting bracing behavior is provided. The paper demonstrates that the latest expression results in brace strength predictions that can be significantly nonconservative. The paper recommends a return to the strength provisions provided in previous editions of the specification.

In the last few decades, a punching shear failure model has been commonly observed in reinforced concrete (RC) bridge deck slabs around the world, which makes studies on the fatigue performance of RC bridge slabs an urgency. This paper focuses on the critical punching shear cracks, and the analytical fatigue life prediction method developed for RC bridge deck slabs that fail in a punching shear mode under moving wheel loads. In the proposed method, the fatigue crack growth is assumed to be as a result of concrete bridging stress degradation and rebar-concrete interface bond-slip degradation. With the obtained crack growths of the punching shear cracks, the fatigue life is predicted following a certain punching shear failure criterion combined with experimental observations. The reliability of this method is then confirmed with a positive outcome between predictions from the proposed method and results from experiments as well as some empirical equations from statistically fitting experimental results.

This paper presents a series of full-scale tests on long-span cold-formed steel single C-section portal frames subjected to gravity load and combined gravity and lateral load. The tests were carried out with the objectives of observing the structural performance of an existing portal frame configuration, determining the ultimate strength of the existing and modified portal frame configurations, and validating the structural behavior simulated by numerical models. The tests on cold-formed steel single C-section portal frames demonstrated that the flexural-torsional buckling of columns was the dominant structural behavior. The ultimate failure deformations were concentrated at the eaves and the apex and were governed by the type of fasteners used for the connections of column lips to the connection brackets. The strengths of the frames with modified joint configuration were slightly higher than those of the frames with the existing proprietary joint configuration. The ultimate loads obtained from the tests are compared with ultimate loads predicted by the Direct Strength Method. A method for including the bimoment in the design of CFS portal frames is highlighted.

Structural health monitoring models provide important information for safety control of large dams. The main challenge in developing an accurate dam behavior prediction model lies in the modeling of extreme temperature effect. This paper presents a Gaussian process regression-based displacement model for health monitoring of concrete gravity dams, which can model the temperature effect by using long-term air temperature data. Important attractions of Gaussian processes include accurate simulation results, convenient training, and so forth. Different covariance functions and temperature variable sets are tested on the horizontal displacement prediction problem of concrete dams. Results show that segmented air temperature based Gaussian process regression models can reflect the extreme air temperature effect on displacements of concrete gravity dams, considering the prediction accuracy is much better than that of a mathematical model based on periodic functions.

Two groups of geometrically identical buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) were subjected to either dynamic or quasi-static uniaxial loading until the cores fractured to investigate the effect of the strain rate on the hysteretic behavior of BRBs. The test results show that the compression overstrength of the BRBs is significantly greater in dynamic loading than in quasi-static loading. This finding indicates that neglecting the strain-rate effect on BRBs is nonconservative. No obvious effect of the strain rate on the cumulative deformation capacity of BRBs was observed during testing. The results thus support a previously proposed empirical model for estimating the cumulative deformation capacity of BRBs.