International Journal of Civil Engineering and Building Materials (ISSN 2223-487X) Vol. 2 No.

1 2012
2012 International Science and Engineering Research Center

39

Assement of the Seismic Behavior of Eccentrically Braced Frame with
Vertical and Horizontal Link
Yaser Mozaffari Jouybari
1,a
, Abbas Akbarpour Nikghalb
2,b
1
Islamic Azad University jouybar branch, Iran
2
Associate professor, Dept.of Civil Engineering, IslamicAazad University Tehran south branch, Iran
a
yaser_saze87@yahoo.com ,
b
A-Akbarpour@azad.ac.ir
Keywords: Eccentrically Braced Frame, Vertical Link, Horizontal Link, Near-field ground motion
Abstract: The design of an eccentrically braced frame is based on creating a frame which will
remain essentially elastic outside a well define link. There are two type eccentrically braced frame,
eccentrically braced frame with vertical link and horizontal link. One of the exclusion of plastic
deformation from the main stricture result on no damage in the roof of the structures under severs
earthquakes, easy and simple rehabilitation, and the replacement of link father earthquake. Use
vertical link in the eccentrically braced frame prevent rotation mean beam and cause decreased
damage in the main structure. In the study,3-D steel building in 4,8 and 12 story by short link beams
were modeled. Short link beam considered to 0.5 m, 4, 8 and 12 numbers of stories. In paper,
non-linear static analyses and non-linear dynamic performed. It was observed that use vertical link in
the EBF prevented rotation mean beam. Also use vertical link in the EBF decreased base shear,
relative acceleration and relative velocity in the structures. It was observed that eccentrically braced
frame with vertical link yields less displacement and so the energy dissipation capacity increased.

INTRODUCTION
Eccentrically braced steel frames are hybrid systems that combine frame stiffness of centrically
braced frames with ductility and capability to dissipate seismic energy of moment resisting frames of
which at least one end of the bracing is connected to the beam so as to form a segment in the beam
called link beam .It is well know that link beam are usually designed to remain in elastic region
during ordinary loading but withstand nonlinear deformation during sees The design of an
eccentrically braced frame is based on creating a frame which will remain essentially elastic outside a
well define link.
The critical factor which influences the inelastic behavior of the link is its length which is correlated
to the capability to dissipate seismic energy and the collapse mechanism of the system. One of the
advantages of vertical links over their horizontal counterparts is the exclusion of plastic deformation
from the main structure result on no damage in the roof of the structures under sever earthquake ;easy
and simple rehabilitation ;and the replacement of link after earthquake .using the vertical links for
seismic rehabilitation of the existing buildings is possible with minor changes in the main structure
;however ,in large or tall building and also in strengthening of the existing structures ,due to
limitation of dimensions of the existing components of the structures ,the application of the single
vertical link has lots of obstacles. The transferred shear from the vertical links, especially in concrete
structures, can limit the application of big vertical links. In such case, using double vertical links is
recommended [5].

Eccentrically braced frame
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Building Materials (ISSN 2223-487X) Vol. 2 No.1 2012
2012 International Science and Engineering Research Center

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In eccentrically braced frames, braces in each span are located with distance in longitudinal axis of
beam or with distance by beam to column connections is illustrated in Figure1. In these systems
lateral behavior of structure is the combination of axial forces, shears and moments of beam and
columns in braced spans and the compressions and of braces.
These systems are expected to withstand significant inelastic deformation in the links whereas other
segments of system (out of link beam segments) shall be designed to remain essentially elastic.
Therefore, although it has convinced ductility, it has enough stiffness too. The EBFs ductility and
stiffness change by its length of link beam and therefore can be set by the designer to get proper
condition .the object of designer is not to prevent of producing of hinges, but also the object is to
controlling the place of hinges productions and checking the capacity of rotation of link beams.




Fig 1 Link in eccentrically braced frame


Mechanism of horizontal link beams
The length of link beams effect the behavior of EBFs in linear and non-linear region. In high force
the plastic hinges were created in link beam that the kind of these indicates the mechanism of link
beams. By writhing the stability equation we have these two boundaries. In these equation 1 is the
length of link beam.
Shear link beam
P
P
V
M
e
6 . 1
d

Moment link beam
P
P
V
M
e
6 . 2
!

When the length of link beam is between theses limitations both shear and moment mechanisms
occur. UBC code limits the ultimate rotation of link beams, 0.09 for shear ones and 0.03 for
moment ones. AISC limitations are 0.08 for shear link and 0.03 for moment links. These limitations
in Iran code are 0.08 for shear link and 0.02 for moment links [6].

Mechanism of vertical link beams
For vertical shear links whose moment diagram is illustrated in Figure 2, in order to achieve the
shear hinges formation condition before flexural hinge , due to the unequal moment at the end of
link equation 2 considered:
(1)
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Building Materials (ISSN 2223-487X) Vol. 2 No.1 2012
2012 International Science and Engineering Research Center

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1 2
1
2
,
1 8 . 0
M M
M
M
K
V
M K
e
P
P
d

d

Fig 2 the diagram of the moment in frame with single vertical link

In this paper Eqn 2 is considered for shearing behavior. In order to study the behavior of these frames,
first a section is chosen for the link, and then the remaining members of the frame are designed for
maximum capacity of vertical links. It should be mentioned that gusset plate of bracing member to the
end beam is designed according to the AISC seismic provision 2005 for compression strength of the
bracing member [5].

Near Filled earthquakes
Near-field earthquakes have some characteristics that differs them from far-field ones. These
earthquake have higher accelerations and restricted frequency content in higher frequencies than
far-field ones. Also their records have pulses in beginning of record with high period and high
domain. These pulses are much considerable when the Forward directivity takes place, therefore the
records change from Board band condition to pulse like ones. These pluses result in occurrence of
amount of maximum of Fourier spectrum in limited periods unlike the amount of maximum of
Fourier spectrum in far-field earthquakes that occur in wide-ranging of periods. These pulses also
cause that the responses of structures exposed to them is more affected by Wave like terms than
Mode-Like terms. in this situation the response of structure get from accumulation of waves move in
structure. Other effects of pulses is send out the maximum of domain to the smaller periods that
causes to increase in virtual stiffness, base shear ,ductility demand and decrease in damping of
structures. The ratio of vertical to spectrum in near-field earthquake is much more than far-field ones.
In codes this ratio often consider as 2/3 .But in near field earthquakes this ratio in short period can
reach to number2 [7].

Records
All the records were registered in soil D according to NEHRP, zone 4 according to UBC97 and type II
according to Iran code (2800) or recover for this type of soil. All of them have distance less than 10
KM is illustrated in Table 1 [2].

Table 1 Specification of near-field motions
Station PGD(cm) PGV(cm/sec) PGA(g) Year Earthquake Nomber
Bam 34.480 123.69 0.78 2003 Bam 1
Dayhook 12.56 20.6 0.328 1978 Tabas 2
(2)
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Building Materials (ISSN 2223-487X) Vol. 2 No.1 2012
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TCU 41.87 68.8 0.17 1999 Chi chi 3
o kjma 19.95 74.3 0.59 1995 Kobe 4
Pacoima 7.21 51.5 0.433 1994 Northridge 5
Joshua 9.82 27.5 0.274 1992 Landers 6
Golbaf 5.87 14.126 0.29 1998 Golbaf 7
Silakhor 28.9 84.9 0.44 2006 Silakhor 8
Zangiran 27.3 69 0.91 1994 Zangiran 9
Sakavya 70.52 79.5 0.376 1999 Kocaeli 10

Linear dynamic and Non-linear dynamic analysis
Plastic hinges definition, assignments and non-linear dynamic analysis are done according to Feta
356.The plastic hinges were produced only in link beam ,production of hinges has regular processes
, it mean that before producing plastic hinges in all of stories ,the structural do not go under
instability and collapse mode. All the non-linear dynamic analyses are as Direct Integration time
history. Tabas, Landers and Northridge earthquake are selected for non-linear dynamic analyses;
Also effective vertical component Tabas earthquake considred.For each model, non-linear dynamic
analyses done. In a building, all non-linear deformation occurred in link beams which indicate that
all the energy dissipation capacity is due to the existence of links and all other parts of the structure
remain in the linear range.. Under Near-Field earthquake and under non-linear dynamic analyses
the amount of relative acceleration and velocity in vertical link beam are less than horizontal link,
as shown Figure 8,9. Base shear gets form vertical link, is so lees that base shear get form
horizontal link , as shown Figure 10.
.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Time(sec)
A
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n
(
g
)
BAM
CHI CHI
GOLBAF
KOBE
KOCAELI
LANDERS
NORTHRIDGE
SILAKHOR
TABAS
ZANJIRAN

Fig 3 average spectrums get from 10 recodes

International Journal of Civil Engineering and Building Materials (ISSN 2223-487X) Vol. 2 No.1 2012
2012 International Science and Engineering Research Center

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0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Time (sec)
A
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n

(
g
)
spectrum 2800
near-field spectrum

Fig 4 comparison near-field spectrum with 2800 Iran spectrum

12 Stories (H-EBF)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Lateral Displacement(cm)
s
t
o
r
y
SZ+0.3SX+0.3SY
SX+0.3SY+0.3SZ
S 2800

12 Stories (V-EBF)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Lateral Displacement (cm)
s
t
o
r
y
SZ+0.3SX+0.3SY
SX+0.3SY+0.3SZ
S 2800

Fig 5 Displacement distributions in height structure 12 stories get linear dynamic analysis
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Building Materials (ISSN 2223-487X) Vol. 2 No.1 2012
2012 International Science and Engineering Research Center

44

12 Stories (H-EBF)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Lateral Force (ton)
s
t
o
r
y
SZ+0.3SX+0.3SZ
SX+0.3SY+0.3SZ
S 2800

12 Stories (V-EBF)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Lateral Force (ton)
s
t
o
r
y
SZ+0.3SX+0.3SY
SX+0.3SY+0.3SZ
S 2800

Fig 6 Force distributions in height structure by 12 stories get linear dynamic analysis

12 -Stories - Tabas Horizontal
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 1 2 3
Max Interstory Drift%
S
t
o
r
y
H-EBF
V-EBF
Limit 2800
12 - Stories - Tabas Vertical
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Max Interstory Drift%
S
t
o
r
y
H-EBF
V-EBF
Limit 2800

Fig 7 Max interstory drift distribution in height structure 12 stories get from non-linear analyses


International Journal of Civil Engineering and Building Materials (ISSN 2223-487X) Vol. 2 No.1 2012
2012 International Science and Engineering Research Center

45

12 - Stories (V-EBF)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Relative Acceleration(cm/s2)
S
t
o
r
y
Tabas - Horizontal
Tabas - Vertical
Northridge
Landers
8 Stories (V-EBF)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
0 300 600 900 1200 1500
Relative Acceleration(cm/s2)
S
t
o
r
y
Tabas - Horizontal
Tabas- Vertical
Northridge
Landers
Fig 8 Comparison relative acceleration different earthquakes


12-Stories (H-EBF)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Relative Velocity (cm/s)
S
t
o
r
y
Tabas -Horizontal
Tabas-Vertical
Northridge
Landers
8 -Stories (V-EBF)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Relative Velocity(cm/s)
S
t
o
r
y
Tabas-Horizontal
Tabas-Vertical
Northridge
Landers


Fig 9 comparison relative velocity different earthquakes
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Building Materials (ISSN 2223-487X) Vol. 2 No.1 2012
2012 International Science and Engineering Research Center

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8 Stories
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
H-EBF V-EBF
B
a
s
e

R
e
a
c
t
i
o
n
(
t
o
n
)
Tabas -Horizontal
Tabas-Vertical
Northridge
Landers

Fig 10 Comparison base shears in the 8 story building
Summary
1. The non- linear lateral displacement in EBFs with vertical link beam become more than EBF
with horizontal link beam.
2. The base shear get from vertical link beam, is so less that base shear get from horizontal link
beam.
3. Under Near-Field earthquake and under non-linear dynamic analyses the amount of relative the
amount of relative acceleration and velocity in vertical link beam are less than horizontal link.
4. In EBF systems with short links have good performance in the earthquakes.
5. One of the advantages of vertical links over their horizontal counterparts is the exclusion of
plastic deformation from the main structure result on no damage in the roof of the structures
under sever earthquake ;easy and simple rehabilitation ;and the replacement of link after
earthquake .

References

[1] Uniform Building Code (UBC). (1997), Structural Engineering Design Provisions. Vole 2
[2] Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER), PEER Strong Motion Database.
(2006) http:// peer .Berkeley .edu/smcat.
[3] 2800 Standard (2005), Iran Seismic Provisions for design of buildings, Buildings and House
Research Center .Vol 3
[4] Iran Provisions for design and construct of Structural Steel Buildings. (2005), Housing and
ministry.
[5] Shayanfar, Mohsenali-Rezaeian, Alireza-Taherkhani Sina. Assessment of the seismic
behavior of eccentrically braced frame with double vertical link (DV-EBF). The 14 world
Conference on Earthquake Engineering October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China
[6] Sachi Furukawa1, Subhash C. Goel2, and Shih-Ho Chao3. SEISMIC EVALUATION OF
ECCENTRICALLY BRACED STEEL FRAMES DESIGNED BY PERFORMANCE-BASED
PLASTIC DESIGN METHOD.14 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering October 12-
17, 2008, Beijing, China.
[7] Tehrani Zad, .M - Haj Nagaf, .L. Assessing Seismic Behavior of Eccentrically Braced
Frames (EBFs) Due to Near-Field Ground Motions. 14 World conferences on Earthquake
Engineering October 12-17, 2008, Beiging, China.