Seismic Response of Multi-Storey Building with Buckling Restrained Brace System

Abstract

Buckling Restrained Braces (BRBs) are made up by a steel core surrounded by a buckling restraining system, coated with an unbonding material. The buckling restrained system prohibits steel core from buckling when in compression. Experimental studies have been carried out to study the behavior of BRBs. Experimental results showed that the BRB exhibit stable hysteresis response with substantial energy dissipation and ductility. Therefore, seismic performance of buildings or other structure can improve effectively by using BRBs. In this work, numerical studies of eleven models were conducted using ETABS software. The numerical tests were carried out in different scenarios, i.e. building the model with a conventional brace system, building models with partial BRBs system and building models with BRBs system. From both equivalent static analysis and response spectrum analysis main findings are the effects of yielding core length on partial replaced BRBs system and BRBs system buildings are significant in controlling or altering base shear, maximum storey displacement and storey drift, and time period. Also, BRBs are effective in reducing the axial force for column and footing.