RESPONSES TO STRONG GROUND MOTIONS AND DESIGN APPROACH OF STEEL FRAMES COMBINED WITH DIAGONAL BRACINGS

Abstract

Steel diagonal bracing systems combined with moment frame can develop a preferable resistance against earthquakes. Lot of research works have been made on the hysteretic behavior of bracing systems already. However, real responses of these systems to earthquakes have not been made clear yet.
In this paper, the distribution of the cumulative plastic strain energy (structural damage) in one story and the damage distribution between stories during an earthquake are made clear and a simple design formula based on the energy balance is proposed.