BUCKLING BEHAVIOR OF ALUMINUM BRACE UNDER CYCLIC LOADING

Abstract

Recently aluminum braces are used for seismic retrofit of reinforced concrete buildings. Aluminum braces reaches their maximum strength at similar story drift angle as reinforced concrete frames and have a priority to steel tube brace, which buckles where RC frames reaches their maximum strength. However, their cyclic performances after buckling are not confirmed yet. If they cause local buckling after overall buckling, they are expected to be fracture. In this paper, cyclic loading experiments on aluminum braces with pin-end connections are carried out until their fracture, and their performance after buckling is confirmed. Also applying the method for steel tube braces, easy fracture prediction method for aluminum braces is proposed and their validity is discussed.