• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.189-204
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• 2018

This paper examines the seismic responses of a reinforced concrete (RC) frame core-tube building with pre-pressed spring self-centering energy dissipation (PS-SCED) braces. The PS-SCED brace system consists of friction devices for energy dissipation, pre-pressed combination disc springs for self-centering and tube members as guiding elements. A constitutive model of self-centering flag-shaped hysteresis for PS-SCED brace is developed to better simulate the seismic responses of the RC frame core-tube building with PS-SCED braces, which is also verified by the tests of two braces under low cyclic reversed loading. Results indicate that the self-centering and energy dissipation capabilities are well predicted by the proposed constitutive model of the PS-SCED brace. The structure with PS-SCED braces presents similar peak story drift ratio, smaller peak acceleration, smaller base shear force and much smaller residual deformations as compared to the RC frame core-tube building with bucking-restrained braces (BRBs).

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.89-96
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• 2023

The seismic retrofits of existing structures have been focused on the control of structural responses which can be achieved by providing displacement capacity through inelastic ductile action at supplemental devices. Due to their hysteretic characteristics, it is expected to sustain damage through repeated inelastic behaviors including residual deformation which might increase repair costs. To solve such drawbacks of existing yielding devices, this study proposes a self-centering disc spring brace that sustains large axial deformation without structural damage while providing stable energy dissipation capacity. The hysteretic behaviors of suggested brace are first investigated based on the quasi-static cyclic test procedure. Experimental results present the effective self-centering behavior and an analytical model is then suggested in order to reasonably capture the flag-shaped hysteretic behavior of the disc spring brace.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.573-582
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• 2018

This study develops and numerically verifies an innovative seismically resilient bracing system. The proposed self-centering tension-only brace (SC-TOB) is composed of a tensioning system to provide a self-centering response, a frictional device for energy dissipation, and a high-strength steel cable as a bracing element. It is considered to be an improvement over the traditional self-centering braces in terms of lightness, high bearing capacity, load relief, and double-elongation capacity. In this paper, the mechanics of the system are first described. Governing equations deduced from the developed analytical model to predict the behavior of the system are then provided. The results from a finite element validation confirm that the SC-TOB performs as analytically predicted. Key parameters including the activation displacement and load, the self-centering parameter, and equivalent viscous damping are investigated, and their influences on the system behavior are discussed. Finally, a design procedure considering controlled softening behavior is developed and illustrated through a design example.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.149-158
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• 2019

The force-deformation behavior, strain distribution and failure modes of a variable damping self-centering brace (VD-SCB) are theoretically analyzed, experimentally studied, and numerically simulated to guide its design. The working principle of the brace is explained by describing the working stages and the key feature points of the hysteretic curve. A large-scale brace specimen was tested under different sinusoidal excitations to analyze the recentering capability and energy dissipation. Results demonstrate that the VD-SCB exhibits a full quasi-flag-shaped hysteretic response, high ultimate bearing capacity, low activation force and residual deformation, and excellent recentering and energy dissipation capabilities. Calculation equations of the strain distribution in different parts of the brace are proposed and are compared with the experimental data and simulated results. The developments of two failure modes are compared. Under normal circumstances, the brace fails due to the yielding of the spring blocking plates, which are easily replaced to restore the normal operating conditions of the brace. A brief description of the design procedure of the brace is proposed for application.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 2019

A modified mechanical model of pre-pressed spring self-centering energy dissipation (PS-SCED) brace is proposed, and the hysteresis band is distinguished by the indication of relevant state variables. The MDOF frame system equipped with the braces is formulated in an incremental form of linear acceleration method. A multi-objective genetic algorithm (GA) based brace parameter optimization method is developed to obtain an optimal solution from the primary design scheme. Parameter sensitivities derived by the direct differentiation method are used to modify the change rate of parameters in the GA operator. A case study is conducted on a steel braced frame to illustrate the effect of brace parameters on node displacements, and validate the feasibility of the modified mechanical model. The optimization results and computational process information are compared among three cases of different strategies of parameter change as well. The accuracy is also verified by the calculation results of finite element model. This work can help the applications of PS-SCED brace optimization related to parameter sensitivity, and fulfill the systematic design procedure of PS-SCED brace-structure system with completed and prospective consequences.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.331-336
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• 2008

An self-centering energy-dissipative (SCED) bracing system has recently been developed as a new seismic force resistant bracing system. The advantage of the SCED brace system is that, unlike other comparable advanced bracing systems that dissipate energy, such as the buckling restrained brace system, it has a self-centering capability that reduces or eliminates residual building deformations after major seismic events. In this study seismic performance of SCED braced frames is evaluated for a set of 20 design level earthquake records. According to analysis results the SCED systems showed more uniform interstory drift demand for buildings with 8 story or fewer. The residual deformation in SCED buildings turned out to be much less than that of moment-resisting frames.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1205-1219
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• 2016

This paper presents a new type of pre-pressed spring self-centering energy dissipation (PS-SCED) bracing system that combines friction mechanisms between the inner and outer tube members to provide the energy dissipation with the pre-pressed combination disc springs installed on both ends of the brace to provide the self-centering capability. The mechanics and the equations governing the design and hysteretic responses of the bracing system are outlined, and a series of validation tests of components comprising the self-centering mechanism of combination disc springs, the friction energy dissipation mechanism, and a large scale PS-SCED bracing specimen were conducted due to the low cyclic reversed loadings. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed bracing system performs as predicted by the equations governing its mechanical behaviors, which exhibits a stable and repeatable flag-shaped hysteretic response with excellent self-centering capability and appreciable energy dissipation, and large ultimate bearing and deformation capacities. Results also show that almost no residual deformation occurs when the friction force is less than the initial pre-pressed force of disc springs.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.491-506
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• 2014

Buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) have excellent hysteretic behavior while buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) are susceptible to residual lateral deformations. To address this drawback, a novel self-centering (SC) BRB with Basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) composite tendons is presented in this work. The configuration and mechanics of proposed BFRP-SC-BRBs are first discussed. Then an 1840-mm-long BFRP-SC-BRB specimen is fabricated and tested to verify its hysteric and self-centering performance. The tested specimen has an expected flag-shaped hysteresis character, showing a distinct self-centering tendency. During the test, the residual deformation of the specimen is only about 0.6 mm. The gap between anchorage plates and welding ends of bracing tubes performs as expected with the maximum opening value 6 mm when brace is in compression. The OpenSEES software is employed to conduct numerical analysis. Experiment results are used to validate the modeling methodology. Then the proposed numerical model is used to evaluate the influence of initial prestress, tendon diameter and core plate thickness on the performance of BFRP-SC-BRBs. Results show that both the increase of initial prestress and tendon diameters can obviously improve the self-centering effect of BFRP-SC-BRBs. With the increase of core plate thickness, the energy dissipation is improved while the residual deformation is generated when the core plate strength exceeds initial prestress force.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.139-150
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• 2022

In most self-center braces, decreasing residual deformation is possible only by increasing pretension force, which results in lower energy dissipation capacity. On the other hand, increasing energy dissipation capacity means higher values of residual deformation. The goal of this research was to find the best design for a self-centering buckling restrained brace (SC-BRB) system by balancing self-centering capability and energy dissipation. Three, six, and nine-story structures were investigated using OpenSees software and the TCL programming language to achieve this goal. For each height, 62 different SC-BRBs were considered using different values for the pretension force of cables, the area of the buckling restrained brace (BRB) core plate, and the yield stress of the core plate. The residual deformation and dissipated energy of all the models were calculated using nonlinear analyses after cyclic loading was applied. The optimum design for each height was determined among all the models and was compared to the structure equipped with the usual BRB. The residual deformation of the framed buildings was significantly reduced, according to the findings. Also the reduction of the energy dissipation was acceptable. The optimum design of SC-BRB in 6-story building has the most reduction percent in residual deformation, it can reduce residual deformation of building 83% while causing only a 57% of reduction in dissipated energy. The greatest reduction in residual deformation versus dissipated energy reduction was for the optimum SC-BRB design of 9-story building, results indicated that it can reduce residual deformation of building 69% while causing only a 42% of reduction in dissipated energy.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.35-44
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• 2008

A self-centering energy-dissipative(SCED) bracing system has recently been developed as a new seismic force resistant bracing system. The advantage of the SCED brace system is that, unlike other comparable advanced bracing systems that dissipate energy such as the buckling restrained brace(BRB) system, it has a self-centering capability that reduces or eliminates residual building deformations after major seismic events. In order to investigate the effects of torsion on the SCED brace and BRB systems, nonlinear time history analyses were used to compare the responses of 3D model structures with three different amounts of frame eccentricity. The results of the analysis showed that the interstory drifts of SCED braced frames are more uniform than those of BRB frames, without regard to irregularity. The residual drift and residual rotation responses tended to decrease as irregularity increased. For medium-rise structures, the drift concentration factors(DCFs) for SCED systems were lower than those for BRB frames. This means that SCED-braced frames deform in a more uniform manner with respect to building height. The effect of the torsional irregularity on the magnitude of the DCFs was small.