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The 14 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China

The Impact of Geometric Arrange of BRBs on the dynamic Analysis of Structure

1

Ali Davaran ,Javad Hassanzadeh , Bahram Shokri , Siamak Talatahari and Susan Fathi

1 Assistant .Prof. of Civil Engrg., Dept. of Civil. Engrg., Build.No.6, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
2 Graduated Student, Dept. of Civil. Engrg., Build.No.6, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
3 Graduated Student, Dept. of Civil. Engrg., Build.No.6, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
Email: j.ha2010@gmail.com, j.hassanzade@gmail.com
ABSTRACT :
In this research the impact of different arranges and geometric forms of braces on general response of BRB
frames has been investigated under the conditions corresponding to the results of acceleration record of six
supposed earthquakes. And also the structures with difference number of stories, designed based on available
codes have been analyzed dynamically by opensees software affected by the acceleration record of supposed
earthquakes which met the Iranian 2800 earthquake code.
Comparison of the results demonstrated more ductile and better response of double diagonal arrange rather than
chevron arrange, so that the maximum displacements of different structures with double diagonal arrange are
less than those of the chevron arrange for the same structures.

KEYWORDS:

BRB, chevron, Buckling restrained braces , diagonal arrange, dynamic analysis,

acceleration record, opensees

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The 14 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China

1-Introduction
Braces , or diagonal elements are used as element to withstand lateral forces, but when opposed to rather large
axial forces, they buck and let the structure undergo large displacements. To overcome this problem, anew
type of braces are used for which the buckling against the axial forces is restrained. Therefore in the
mentioned system, because of restraining the buckling of the brace, the brace has the same response in both
tension and compression and the same amount of energy is absorbed and dissipated in both cases of loading ,
and also the stability and high energy absorption if the structure is improved.

Figure 1: General response of typical brace and BRB comparison of the response of BRB with double diagonal
arrange and chevron
under dynamic analysis :
To investigate the impact of the BRB arranges on the general response of the including structure , chevron
arrange and double diagonal arrange have been studied and three bays structures were selected with three and
five stories . also the acceleration record use in this research are including : Tabas ,Sanfernando , Cobe ,
Kocali, Imperial , Erzincan(fig 2& 3)
with the impact time of 21 and 42 seconds
0.6

Erzincan

0.6

Imperial

0.4

Cobe

0.4

Kucali

Sanfernando
0.2

0.2

Tabas

10

15

20

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

-0.2

-0.2
-0.4

-0.4

-0.6

-0.6

-0.8

Time(s)

Fig 3: records of Kucali,Imperial,ERzincan

Time(s)

Fig 2:records of Cobe, Sanfernando,Tabas

Three spans three stories frame with chevron arrange .

For this structure , after the impact of the supposed acceleration records the maximum drift gained 70 cm for
Kucali: earthquake (fig 4 )
And the maximum plastic deformation was for Erzincan earthquake

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The 14 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China

cobe

80

erzincan
imperial

60

kucali

displacement(cm)

sanfernando

40

tabas

20
0
-3

12

17

22

27

32

37

42

-20
-40
-60

time(s)

Figure 4: drift of chevron three stories structure.

Three spans- three stories frame with double diagonal arrange the maximum drift gained for Kucali: earthquake
for this structure too , and was 64 cm related to the 2nd secondary of vibration (fig 5)

80
33D cobe
e rz incan
i mpe ri al
kucali
sanfe r
tabas

displacement (cm)

60
40
20
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

-20
-40
-60

time(s)

Figure 5: drift of double diagonal arrange- three stories structure

Three spans- five stories frame with chevron arrange for 5 stories structure, the maximum drift gained for
Erzincan earthquake, equal to 120 cm (fig 6), and the maximum plastic deformation was related to Cobe
earthquake.

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The 14 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China

35C cobe

150

erzincan
imperial
kucali

100

displacement(cm)

sanfernando
tabas

50

10

20

30

40

-50

-100

time(s)

Fig 6: drift of chevron arrange 5 stories structure three spans five stories frame with double diagonal 1
arrange.

The maximum drift gained for Erzincan earthquake for this structure, equal to 110 (fig 7), and the maximum

plastic deformation was related to Sanfernando earthquake

35D cobe

140

erzincan
120

imperial

100

kucali
sanfernando

80

displacement(cm)

tabas
60
40
20
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

-20
-40
-60
-80

time(s)

Figure7: drift of five stories structure with double diagonal arrange.

Now, if we evaluate the impacts of the mentioned earthquake one- by- one on the supposed structures ,
between the Tabas, Sanfernado and Cobe earthquakes which have the same duration , Tabas earthquake shows
the most displacement and story drift, which if we replace the chevron arrange with the double diagonal
arrange, we will result about 7% and 8% decrease in story drift for the three stories structure and the five
stories. Respectively(fig 8).

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The 14 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China

120

tabas 35C

100

tabas35 D
displacement(cm)

80

tabas 33C

60

tabas 33D

40
20
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

-20
-40
time(s)

Fig 8: impact of Tabas earthquake on chevron arranged and double diagonal arrange structures.

Also the impact of this replacement on the decrease of plastic deformation which maximum amount was for
Sanfernado earthquake , was 21% and 28% for three stories and five stories structure respectively (fig 9)
120

sanfernando 35C

100

sanfernando 35D

displacement(cm)

80

sanfernando 33C

60

sanfernando 33D

40
20
0
-20

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

-40
-60
-80
time(s)

Fig 9: Impact of Sanfernado earthquake on structure with chevron and double diagonal arranges.

For the acceleration records of Erzincan , Imperial and Kucali which have the same duration , the replacement
of chevron arrange with double diagonal arrange results 3% and 16% reduction in displacement in three stories
and five stories structure respectively and also 5% and 32% reduction in plastic deformation for 3 stories and 5
stories structures respectively rather than Erzincan earthquake which has the most displacement and plastic
deformation(fig10)

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The 14 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China

140

erzincan 35C

120

erzincan 35D

100

erzin 33C
80

erzin 33D

60
40
20
0
-20

10

15

20

-40
-60

Fig 10: impact of Erzincan earthquake on structure with chevron and double diagonal arranges

Conclusion:
Using double diagonal arrange instead of chevron arrange results in improvement of general response and
stability of structures reduction in displacement and story drifts , and reduction in plastic deformation of the
system , so that increasing in the story numbers and height of the structure, shows the more desirable impact of
this replacement on the structure.
References:
[1] PEER 2002/08, Component Testing, Stability Analysis and Characterization of Buckling-Restrained
Unbonded Bracings, Pacific Earthquake Engineering
Research Center.
[2] Qiang Xie. "State of The Art of Buckling-Restrained Braces in Asia" Journal of Constructional Steel
Research .no.61,2005,pp.727-748
[3] Wada, A., Nakashima, M., 2004. "From Infancy to Maturity of Buckling
Restrained Braces Research", 13th Word Conference on Earthquake Engineering. Vancouver, Canada, Paper
No. 1732.
[4] Nishimoto, K., Nakata, Y., Wada, A., 2004. "Sub-Assembly Testing of Large Buckling-Restrained
Unbounded Braces", 13th Word Conference on Earthquake Engineering. Vancouver, Canada, Paper No. 1133.
[5] AISC/SEAOC Recommended Provisions for BRBF, 2001.
[6] Davaran, Ali., Hassanzadeh, J. Analytical investigation of mixed BRBF and SCBF braced steel frames
2008 Structures Congress - Crossing Borders. Vancouver, Canada april 24-26

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The 14 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China