Journal of Constructional Steel Research 60 (2004) 751–769

www.elsevier.com/locate/jcsr

Steel dissipating braces for upgrading existing

building frames
F. Bartera
, R. Giacchetti
University of Ancona, Ancona 60122, Italy

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate how the dynamic response of an existing r.c. single
storey frame may be upgraded by using different types of steel bracing dissipating system.
The dissipating bracing system is composed of steel braces in series with an energy dissi-
pation device that is either a high damping rubber pad (HDRD) or a shape memory alloy
wire assemblage (SMAD), both characterised by a hysteretic behaviour.
Many tests have been performed by the authors, both in free and in forced vibration, to
completely understand the behaviour of the equipped systems by the use of simple testing
techniques in a wide range of frequency and displacement amplitude, in order to simulate
the frequency content of an earthquake excitation.
# 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Steel braces; Rehabilitation of existing structures; Passive energy dissipation; High damping
rubber; Shape memory alloy; Dynamic tests

1. Introduction

During the last 15 years, a lot of research work has been done to evaluate the ef-
fectiveness of different added damping systems in reducing the seismic response of
buildings [1–3]. On this subject, it is of great importance to face the issue of either
upgrading existing buildings provided with little inherent earthquake resistance or
rehabilitating buildings not designed at all to withstand quakes. As a matter of
fact, recent seismic events have evidenced that even earthquake resistant reinforced
concrete structures may give poor performance under minor shakings.
To date, many devices able to dissipate a remarkable amount of the seismic
input energy have been proposed, all of them based on the properties of the
particular materials which they are made of. At the moment, the available passive

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-071-2201; fax: +39-071-2202324.

0143-974X/$ - see front matter # 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/S0143-974X(03)00141-X
752 F. Bartera, R. Giacchetti / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 60 (2004) 751–769

dissipating devices are based on friction, plastic hysteresis, and viscoelasticity; each
of them is characterised by different degrees of thermodynamic efficiency, stability
during the load reversals, and re-centring capability. Generally, these devices work
by taking advantage of the interstorey drift and, so, it is widely accepted to im-
plement bracing systems equipped with the selected dampers as connecting ele-
ments between two consecutive floors.
How to couple the damping devices to the bracing system and how to insert the
dissipating braces into the existing structures have been the subject of many inno-
vative suggestions; but steel braces still remain the more frequently used material
because of its laying easiness and adaptability to any existing frame. Moreover,
steel braces may realise a considerable increase of stiffness with a little weight
addition of structural material, which is particularly beneficial when the structural
deficiencies of the existing building are to be charged to an excessive lateral flexi-
bility.
Besides, an adequate stiffening is commonly needed to enhance the damping sys-
tem efficiency. On the other hand, as is known, large added stiffness may strongly
influence the dynamic response of the system to high frequency shakings. In ad-
dition, it may sometimes be necessary to limit the brace stiffness in order to dimin-
ish the state of stress, particularly at the joints between the braces and the existing
structural members. In these circumstances, high added damping accompanied by
limited increase of lateral stiffness may be the winning solution in the upgrading
design.

2. Objective and scope

This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation regarding the

dynamic response of a reinforced concrete structural frame with added stiffness and
damping provided by steel dissipating bracing systems.
The effect of two specific dissipating systems carrying different damping devices
on the original frame is illustrated by making a comparison between the dynamic
properties of the bare frame and those of the frame equipped with the dissipating
bracings and then quantifying the structural modifications.
Both systems dissipate energy through the hysteretic behaviour of the damping
devices, given the light damping, the steel bracings may offer: the former device
(HDRD) [4–6] depends on the non-linear constitutive law of high damping rubber
pads subject to shear deformation, the latter (SMAD) [7,8] depends on the highly
inelastic behaviour of pre-tensioned shape memory alloy wires axially loaded.
In addition, two kinds of bracing configurations with quite different lateral stiff-
nesses, both carrying the same HDRDs, have been investigated with the purpose
of understanding how the type of bracing system may affect the overall structural
response.
The purpose of the experimental campaign is to assess the suitability of different
energy dissipating bracing systems in improving the seismic behaviour of a rein-
forced concrete frame. To fulfil this objective, some physical entities regarding the
 F. Bartera, R. Giacchetti / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 60 (2004) 751–769 753

frame dynamic response have been monitored, i.e. the equivalent damping ratio,
the energy dissipated per cycle during the sine sweep tests, and the input energy
required to attain the same elastic displacement throughout the different configura-
tions.
2.1. Description of the mock-up components

2.1.1. Reinforced concrete space frame

The real scale structure is a 3D one storey r.c. frame built on a 4.20 m spanned
square grid with a total height equal to 3.10 m (Fig. 1). The columns are
0:20  0:30 m, the beams are 0:20  0:35 m in the X direction and 0:30  0:35 m in
Y direction and the floor slab is 0.1 m thick. At the vertexes of the deck, four con-
crete cubes of approximately 20 kN, each is fixed to the slab and to the beams by
steel plates and expansion plugs; the total mass of the bare frame is about 17155
kg. Prior to the current investigation, the structure underwent a large number of
dynamic tests both as a bare frame and equipped with different frictional damping
systems, so that it was lightly damaged after the preceding seismic simulations. The
lateral displacement at yield was designed to be equal to 20 mm, that is 0.65 % of
total height.

2.1.2. Steel bracing systems

All kinds of damping devices, described below, were mounted atop braces manu-
factured with commercial steel pipes having a diameter of 133 mm and a thickness
of 4 mm assembled in the chevron fashion. As mentioned before, two bracing con-
figurations were obtained by either adding cross-stiffening rods to or removing
them from the bracings.
In order to transform the lateral displacement of the frame floor into shear
deformation for the rubber pads or axial deformation for the shape memory alloy
wires, the upper ends of the two braces were bolted to a steel plate (different for
the two kinds of dampers) which, in turn, was bolted to one of the connecting

Fig. 1. The r.c. frame layout.

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plates of the device. The other one was then rigidly connected to the beam. This
kind of assemblage made it necessary to give the bracing system the shape of a
quadrilateral rather than a triangle, as the chevron brace actually looks like. Be-
cause of the bolted connection, the bracing system in this configuration turned out
to be a mechanism.
In order to make the bracing system rigid with respect to the r.c. frame, the bra-
ces were then stiffened by two post-tensioned cross-bars Ø24. A stiffness of 60.61
kN/mm, about 20 times that of the frame, was then achieved.

2.1.2.1 The HDRD-based dissipating bracing systems. The rubber devices are made
of two 5 mm thick layers of vulcanised natural rubber with an interposed 2 mm
thick steel plate, both die-cast on steel plates 250  260  15 mm (Fig. 2). The
rubber layer area is 170  230 mm and the plates are equipped with four holes
M16 to facilitate the connection to the braces. The damper has been designed to be
subjected to pure shear deformation and the constitutive law (Fig. 3), provided by
the factory, has been obtained by imposing sinusoidal loading cycles at a frequency
of 0.1 Hz and a shear peak deformation of 100%.
The two dissipative bracing systems were linked to the r.c. frame in a symmetric
position along the X axis in the following configurations: (a) with 2 HDRDs for
each brace arranged in a vertical plane (Fig. 4 a); (b) with 1 HDRD for each brace

Fig. 2. Sketch of the HDRD.

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Fig. 3. HDRD’s constitutive law at 100% shear deformation.

obtained from (a) by removing the inner device; (c) with 1 damper for each brace
arranged in a horizontal plane (Fig. 4b).
Starting from configuration (a), a kinematic bracing system was obtained by
simply removing the cross-bars and loosening the bolts: the resulting kinematic
quadrilateral (configuration (d)) was free to move following a certain path derived
from its geometry (Fig. 5). Obviously, in such a way, the damper would no longer
be stressed by pure shear, but would undergo a combined shear-torque effect.

2.1.2.2 The SMAD-based dissipating bracing system. Each of the four SMADs was
an assemblage of 20 groups of 10 nitinol wires with a diameter of 1 mm (Fig. 6)

Fig. 4. (a) Configurations (a) and (b); (b) configuration (c).

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and a length of 427 mm. The maximum force level was about 80 kN in the
displacement range fixed for the experimental campaign (13 mm). The wire
groups were assembled by means of two circular end plates, 130 mm in diameter,
so that the final length of the device was 553 mm. The SMAD constitutive law in
Fig. 7 shows two characteristic plastic thresholds (plateau).

Fig. 5. (a) Configurations (a) and (b), (b) configuration (c).

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Fig. 6. Section of the shape memory alloy device.

Upon a suggestion of the manufacturer, the optimisation of the dissipative be-

haviour of the device was attained by imposing a pre-tensioning axial strain equal
to 3.5%, obtained by loading up to the end of the upper plateau and then unload-
ing down to the lower plateau.
The SMADs and the braces were linked by a 30 mm thick steel plate, while the
dampers and the r.c. beam were connected by a plate of 1200  300  30 mm,
glued and bolted to the beam, to whose ends two gusset plates were fixed. The
SMADs were then linked to the gusset plates by giving a light pre-tension as much
as needed to have a full contact between the steel plates and avoid local stress con-
centration (Fig. 8).
It is evident that this kind of devices requires the bracing system to be as rigid as
possible which excludes using the kinematic configuration.

Fig. 7. SMAD’s constitutive law.

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Fig. 8. SMAD bracings on the r.c. frame.

The most suitable layout of the connecting bracing system is the rigid one used
for the HDRD-based configuration; in fact, other kinds of assemblages have many
limitations when it is necessary to apply a pre-tensioning load to a pair of devices
and simultaneously realise an initial balanced system able to leave the r.c. frame
undeformed.

3. Experimental investigations

3.1. Quasi-static cyclic tests (LC)

The monotonic test was carried out by loading one of the Y-laid beam at the
height of the medium axis of the slab; a hydraulic servo-controlled actuator fixed
on a reaction element furnished the load required to reach the target sinusoidal dis-
placement time history at an extremely low frequency level (0.008 Hz). The actu-
ator was linked to the mock-ups by means of a ball joint connected to a gusset
plate linked by the symmetric one on the opposite r.c. beam by four pre-stressed
bars.
3.2. Free vibration tests: snap back (SB)

Free vibration tests were performed both on the r.c. frame and on the various
equipped systems by imposing increasing initial displacement levels and analysing
on average the results of three tests each. The aim of this investigation is to keep
an eye on some parameters’ variation: first of all, the free vibration frequency mod-
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Table 1
SB on the r.c. frame
Interstorey drift (mm) fave (Hz) Stiffness (kN/mm) nave (%)
2.5 2.50 4.233 2.22
5.0 2.45 4.065 2.69
7.5 2.34 3.708 2.57
10.0 2.27 3.490 2.55
12.5 2.20 3.277 2.57

ifications at different displacement levels due to stiffness changes, and then the cor-
responding equivalent damping ratios. The test procedure followed the same
scheme of the quasi-static test, except that the ball joint was replaced by a T-
shaped gusset plate, pushing the system at the required displacement amplitude
and then instantaneously removing the load by resetting the actuator at this zero
point (Table 1).
3.3. Forced vibration tests: displacement control (FVDC)

Displacement controlled sinusoidal loading tests have been performed in order

to investigate the behavioural differences of the damping systems when subjected to
harmonic load at non-fundamental frequencies, mostly lower. The load application
system was exactly the same of the quasi-static tests (Fig. 9).

3.4. Forced vibration tests: force control (FVFC)

Sinusoidal loading time histories were applied to the mock-ups covering a fairly
wide frequency range in order to pick up the resonance and analyse the overall

Fig. 9. The actuator for FVDC tests.

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behaviour through the estimation of the maximum displacement, the modal damping
ratio and the amount of the energy dissipated. A hydraulic shaker was anchored to
the structure in the Y direction in the same position of the actuator of the previous
tests and its opposite end was hang up at the bridge crane hook (Fig. 10). For the
HDR damping systems, only the critical cycles were monitored, whereas for the
SMAD damping system, all the sweeps, both raising and descending, were investi-
gated.

4. Results of the experimental campaign

4.1. Dynamic behaviour of the bare frame

By the quasi-static test, a force–displacement relationship was found for a floor

lateral displacement equal to 12.5 mm (at about 4.5% of columns’ height), at
which the bare frame should have remained elastic. As a matter of fact, the curve
plot (Fig. 11) shows a little hysteresis; nevertheless, looking only at the loading
branch, the regression curve is almost linear and its slope gives a value of stiffness
equal to 3.27 kN/mm, that is half of the original stiffness of the undamaged frame.
The snap back test procedure was then applied to highlight the dynamic behav-
iour of the frame at displacements large enough to open the pre-existing cracks.
As a consequence of these major displacements, the larger crack opening caused
the decay of the stiffness and of the oscillation period in association with a little
damping increment. The average damping ratio came out to be equal to 2.52%
(Table 2).

Fig. 10. The shaker for FVFC tests.

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Fig. 11. LC first cycle on the r.c. frame.

Displacement controlled sine sweeps originated cycles whose related stiffness and
damping values were greatly coherent with those obtained during the free vibration
test ones.
4.2. Dynamic behaviour of the braced frames

4.2.1. The HDRD-based bracing configurations

The indeformability of the rigid bracing with respect to the r.c. frame was asses-
sed by overlapping the lateral displacement time history to the HDRD shear defor-
mation time history (Fig. 12). In such conditions, the lateral stiffness of the braced
frame is actually equal to the sum of the stiffness of the bare frame and that of the
HDRD (Fig. 13).
Snap backs were then performed. It can be observed from Fig. 14 that the struc-
ture oscillates around a deformed position; however, this residual deformation on
the rubber was completely absorbed in less than 24 h confirming the good re-cen-
tring capacity of the material (Fig. 14). Only the kinematic bracing system did not
present any residual displacement at the end of the motion. The damping average
values for each rigid configuration were the following:

nðaÞ ¼ 39:2% nðbÞ ¼ 27:4% nðcÞ ¼ 26:5% nðdÞ ¼ 19:3%

Table 2
Free vibration tests on SMAD-based bracing system
Interstorey drift (mm) fave (Hz) Stiffness (kN/mm) nave (%)
1.0 6.53 29.80 5.73
2.5 5.99 25.07 7.63
5.0 5.65 22.31 10.06
7.5 4.83 16.30 11.61
10.0 4.69 15.37 12.93
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Fig. 12. Time histories’ comparison.

The displacement controlled forced vibration tests were conducted at 2.5–5.0

mm with a sweep in the frequency range from 0.1 up to 3.5 Hz. On varying the ex-
citation frequency, poorly scattered values of the damping ratios (calculated in en-
ergetic terms) and of the dissipated energy were detected, except for the kinematic
bracing system which seemed to have an internal resonance problem at the fre-
quency of 1.0 Hz. Furthermore, the damping ratios appeared to be unrelated to
both frequency and amplitude (Figs. 15 and 16).
On the average, the equivalent damping ratios for the rigid configuration were
the following:
nðaÞ ¼ 12:2% nðbÞ ¼ 10% nðcÞ ¼ 14%

The force controlled vibration tests substantially confirmed the results described
above (Fig. 17). After these tests, it was possible to observe a perfect agreement

Fig. 13. LC force–displacement relationships.

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Fig. 14. SB time-histories.

between the resonance frequency and the consequent stiffness at every displacement
level and the corresponding value obtained by the constitutive law.
Many frequency sweeps at different constant force level were performed which
allowed detecting the existence of a critical frequency, about 40% smaller than the
resonance, which is related to the maximum displacement amplification. During
this critical situation, the braced frame attained a lateral displacement up to 1.80
times that at resonance, while the energy dissipated per cycle was equal to that in
the resonance condition. In Fig. 18, a comparison between the force–displacement
relationships at the resonance and at the critical condition is shown. Taking into
account, the displacement amplification and the frequency reduction for the crucial
frequencies at every tested load level, the authors have pointed out that the
maximum displacement amplification may be calculated by adopting a secant stiff-

Fig. 15. SB damping ratios.

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Fig. 16. FVDC: damping ratio vs. frequency.

ness 20% lower than that obtainable from the constitutive law at the same displace-
ment.

4.2.2. The SMAD-based bracing configuration

Lateral displacement equal to 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0 mm was applied to the
equipped configuration to carry out the free vibration tests.
Even with this kind of hysteretic dampers the structure oscillated around a non-
zero position, except for the 1 mm test, when the damper’s behaviour is almost
elastic and very little hysteretic damping occurs. The residual deformation at the
end of the free vibration is permanent and re-centring is inhibited unless an exter-
nal mechanical action is applied (Fig. 19).

Fig. 17. FVFC: damping ratio vs. force level.

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Fig. 18. Crucial force–displacement relationships for HDR-based braced frame.

Like the HDRD-based bracing systems, the most significant parameters have
been evaluated. The results, shown in Table 2, have confirmed that the damping
ratio increases with the initial displacement as the SMAD damping capacity is
associated to the strain level.
Displacement controlled sine sweeps were performed in the frequency range
0.001–1.0 Hz at displacements of 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0 mm.
Like the HDRD-based configurations, the overall behaviour of the equipped sys-
tem follows the dampers; in fact, the force–displacement relationship remains
mostly linear elastic with a stiffness equal to 2.73 kN/mm (the new stiffness of the
r.c. frame) and almost all the dissipative capacity is exhibited by the SMA devices.
The cycles at constant amplitude are almost stable in the frequency sweep, but in
order to establish the overall stability of this damping system, the authors repeated
all the test history three times with the same procedure. Comparing the force–dis-
placement curves of the first and second series of cycles (Fig. 20), it is evident that
a significant reduction of the energy dissipated was caused by the pinching effect
the SMADs have shown.
The numerical and graphical comparisons show that the dissipated energy re-
duction decreases as the number of cycles performed increases, that is, for example,
between the first and the second series of tests at 0.1 Hz, there is a reduction at
about 30%, while between the second and the third series, the reduction is set to
10% of the initial value.
This behaviour is well known; as a matter of fact, this kind of wire assemblage
needs to be stabilised by applying a certain number of cycles before implemen-
tation, even though that reduces the damper’s efficiency. Stabilisation was actually
executed in the factory by cycling them 20 times at 3.5% axial strain; neverthe-
less, the test results have evidenced that the devices require a larger number of pre-
liminary cycles to exhibit quite a stable performance.
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Fig. 19. (a) SB time-histories: re-centring behaviour, (b) SB time-histories: non-re-centring behaviour.

The shaker induced sine sweeps were performed at different force amplitudes.
For each of them, both raising and descending frequency sweeps were carried out
in order to appreciate the differences of the transfer functions originated by the
SMA strongly non-linear behaviour (Fig. 21).
The displacement amplitude vs. frequency plots (Fig. 22) at different force levels
show that the performance is almost regular, excepting an anomalous condition in
which the damping ratio reaches the minimum value.
Those critical frequencies are characterised by the in-phase movement of both
the r.c. frame and the bracing system and they are different for each forcing level.
Consequently, the dampers are not capable of dissipating energy.

5. Conclusions

The tests results are as follows:

. starting from an equivalent damping ratio of about 2–3% in the bare frame, it is
possible to provide additional damping up to as much as 10–121% by equipping
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Fig. 20. Pinching effect due to plateau modification.

the frame with steel dissipating bracing systems. As a matter of fact, both the
HDRDs and the SMADs are capable of adding such an amount of damping;
. supplemental stiffness and damping are beneficial to a flexible structure because
a dramatic reduction in the structural response of the braced frame can be
observed in terms of interstorey drifts, whereas for structures that cannot with-
stand serious reactions at the beam-to-column joints, the use of a kinematic bra-
cing system may add damping without an increase in the overall stiffness
excessively;

Fig. 21. FVFC: force–displacements relationships during a rising sweep (5.0 kN).
768 F. Bartera, R. Giacchetti / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 60 (2004) 751–769

Fig. 22. (a) FVFC: raising sine sweeps at different force level, (b) FVFC: descending sine sweeps at dif-
ferent force level.

. the response of the braced frames equipped with the HDRDs, both rigid and
kinematic, does not go through the most critical situation at the classical reson-
ance frequency, but at a lower frequency level mathematically correlated to the
resonance one at every displacement amplitude;
. the kinematic bracing system leaves the frame undeformed; on the contrary, the
rigid one has shown an acceptable re-centring capability of the HDRDs;
. the damping capacity of the HDRDs is widely stable only if the stress applied is
pure shear; otherwise the composite shear-torque stress caused by the kinematic
motion gives rise to very scattered damping ratios;
. the hysteretic behaviour of SMADs is unstable and shows a progressive decay of
the energy dissipated;
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. the SMAD-based bracing system may be affected by internal resonance, just like
the kinematic bracing system, so that there could be a lack of energy dissipation
at certain frequencies;
. the great irregularity of the SMAD’s response is a hard limit to pass through if
an analytical law able to predict the damping capacity is looked for;
. the SMADs have shown poor re-centring capability.

Finally, the dissipative capacities of both the damping systems are interesting,
but the reliability of the HDRDs may be very advantageous to bring to fruition
simple numerical models even for complex structural assemblages and so that can
be helpful for the preliminary design. On the contrary, the SMAD behaviour, even
if their dissipative resources appear very interesting, is not yet so predictable.

Acknowledgements

The high damping rubber pads are furnished by T.A.R.R.C, Tun Abdul Razak
Research Centre, Hertford, London, UK and come from many studies on civil
engineering usage of natural rubber devices (REEDS European Project).
The shape memory alloy wire assemblages are furnished by FIP Industriale, Sel-
vazzano, Padova, Italy and are the results of researches in SMA damping optimi-
sation under high frequency excitation for the protection of cultural heritage
(ISTECH European Project).

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