Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
F.M. Mazzolani
University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
ABSTRACT: The use of steelwork for seismic protection purposes is now-a-day a reliable solution whose ef-
fectiveness is proved by the evidence of the catastrophic earthquakes in the World. This aspect is widely illus-
trated in this paper, considering different aspects, from the development of the design methodologies to the
current codification, form the structural typologies to the damage analysis and consequent lessons. Some sig-
nificant examples of seismic resistant buildings, erected in the European earthquake prone Countries during
the last decades, are also illustrated.
Moreover moment frames are also preferred for Figure 4. Common configurations of concentrically braced
their architectural versatility: there are no bracing frames (CBF)
elements which block wall openings and the maxi-
mum flexibility for space utilisation is provided.
This advantage is accompanied by a poor lateral
stiffness of the whole structure, so that the member
sizes are larger than those required for strength, due
to the necessity to contain sway deflections within
the drift limits, imposed by the codes (Mazzolani
and Piluso, 1996, and Bruneau et al. 1998).
Concentrically braced frames resist lateral loads
primarily by developing high axial forces in diago-
nal members. Only in some cases, the bending ac-
tions in moment resisting connections (when appro-
priate) can resist a small percentage of lateral loads. Figure 5. Typical configurations of eccentrically braced frames
In general, the dissipative zones are represented by (EBF)
the tensile diagonals, because of the assumption
usually made that the compression ones buckle. The In order to provide lateral stiffness comparable to
inelastic cyclic performance of concentric braces is that of CBF and to offer high energy dissipation ca-
affected by an energy dissipation capacity degrada- pacity during large inelastic deformations, short
tion, because of the repeated buckling of diagonal links, having the flanges connected to the columns
bars. For this reasons the q reduction factor is as- by means of complete penetration welded joints, are
sumed to be lower than the one corresponding to to be preferred. This is because experimental results
MRF. Besides, high elastic stiffness is achieved by put in evidence that the links in shear possess a
the presence of diagonal bracing members (Maz- greater rotation capacity than the ones in bending
zolani and Piluso, 1996, and Bruneau et al. 1998). (AISC, 1997).
The most typical configurations are shown in Figure A comparison between MRF and braced frames
4. (CBF and EBF) can be qualitatively given on the
Eccentrically braced frames are hybrid lateral base of the requirements which a seismic resistant
force-resisting systems respect to the above men- structure has to satisfy: strength and stiffness against
tioned ones. In fact they combine the individual ad- moderate ground motions with a small return period;
vantages of moment-resisting frames and concentri- strength, ductility and energy dissipation capacity
cally braced frames, assuring a high elastic stiffness, against severe earthquakes with a great return pe-
together with stable inelastic response under cyclic riod. It can be synthesised as in Table 1 (Mazzolani,
lateral loading and good ductility and energy dissi- 1995a).
pation capacity. They are characterised by diagonals
Table 1. Comparison between MRF and braced frames. of structures, laying between a very rigid CBF up to
Strength Stiffness Ductility a very ductile MRF, which can be characterised by a
given combination of stiffness and ductility, for the
MRF good poor good
same strength requirement.
CBF good good poor
EBF good good good 6 ANALYSIS OF DAMAGE
It has been reported (Bertero et al., 1994) that, dur-
5 IMPROVED STRUCTURAL TYPOLOGIES ing the above-mentioned seismic events (see Section
1), many “pathological” failures occurred in steel
A new family of structural typologies dissipating buildings: structural designers expected that steel
energy in bending could be conceived starting from elements in building frames would be fully yield and
two bays CBF, which in practice is the most eco- finally collapsed in a ductile manner, after absorbing
nomic system (Mazzolani et al., 1995b). Simply part of the energy input of strong ground motions;
varying the distance “b” between the central col- contrary, it was particularly astonishing to observe
umns B and C of Figure 6, structures with different typical low-energy failures.
values of stiffness and ductility can be obtained, The damage can be characterised at different
ranging from CBF to MRF. As far as “b” increases, structural levels: material, cross-sections, members
stiffness decreases, but ductility and energy dissipa- and connections (Mazzolani, 1999b).
tion increase, due to the presence of a central weak As it is well known, steel is a very ductile mate-
beams, where two plastic hinges form at the ends. rial, but a big loss of ductility has been evidenced by
In this way a rational improvement of the poor fractures formed in the member far from the welded
ductility of a CBF can be achieved not so much by connections, crossing the entire sections, as it is
ductilising the system itself, but conceiving a system shown in Figures 8 a,b. This happened in the col-
composed by two or more rigid CBF subsystems, umns of the Ashiyahama apartment building in Kobe
connected by means of weak beams (Mazzolani et during the Hyogoken – Nanbu earthquake in 1995,
al., 1995b and 1995c). but it must be pointed out that the material has been
The structural solutions ranging between the CBF submitted to extremely severe loading conditions,
and the MRF are called dual structures, because due to very strong vertical quakes with very high ve-
horizontal loading are resisted in part by moment re- locity of propagation in presence of low temperature
sisting frames and in part by bracing systems acting (it was 6 o’clock a.m. in winter).
in the same plane.
A similar evolution can be achieved starting from
a classical one bay CBF system, with e=0, which is
transformed in a MRF passing trough EBF systems,
characterised by different dimensions of the links,
from short to long (Figure 7).
a) b)
But in general damage is mainly located in the Figure 13. Beam- to column connections for MR steel frames,
connections. Typical are the failure of column base according to the current U.S. (a) and Japanese (b) practice.
plates produced by the rupture of anchor bolts or the
fracture of members at the bolted connections due to 7 LESSONS TO BE LEARNED
the presence of holes which generate a section with
The recent investigations have allowed to identify
reduced resistance (Figure 12a). The fracture of
some causes of damage in steel buildings.
welded beam-to-column connections in moment re-
On one hand, it can be ascribed to the use of field
sisting frames is undoubtedly the most widespread
welding so that poor workmanship is solely to blame
type of failure occurred in steel structures during
and, therefore, it is necessary to tighten the site su-
both Northridge and Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquakes
pervision and to improve the welding details and
(Figure 12b). However, it has been observed (Aki-
procedures; on the other hand, damage causes can be
yama and Yamada, 1995) that the fracture mecha-
attributed to an excess of seismic loading and to de-
nisms were different between the two earthquakes,
fective design guidance leading to a rotation ductil-
mainly due to the fact that different trends regarding
ity supply in the connections lower than the earth-
the detailing of beam-to-column connections are de-
quake imposed demand (Elnashai, 1994).
veloped in USA and Japan.
Some other factors influencing fracture modality
In fact according to the current U.S. practice for
are related to material properties, temperature, strain
seismic resistant frames, both beams and columns
rate, joint geometry, plate thickness and so forth.
are H-shaped (Figure 13a). The beam web is field
More extensive considerations can be done (Maz- column sub-assemblages, in bi-dimensional and tri-
zolani, 1995c): dimensional frames.
- at the material level, damage can be imputed to It has been evidenced (Bertero et al., 1994) that
the concurrence of high velocity of load applica- the types of failure occurred in welded beam-to-
tion and very low temperatures. These conditions column connections during the earthquakes have
are not reproducible by means of the usual labo- been already observed in laboratory experiments.
ratory tests and until now they have been ignored Numerical analyses of the seismic response of
by the codes. steel framed buildings damaged during Northridge
- local buckling of cross-sections in Kobe can be at- earthquake have pointed out that there were several
tributed to the important vertical component of ground motions, recorded during this earthquake,
the ground motions, which normally are underes- able to significantly lead the structure into the ine-
timate or sometimes neglected by seismic codes. lastic range. In many cases, the plastic rotation de-
- a distinction must be done between “far-field” mand at the beam ends exceeded 0.02 rad; therefore,
earthquakes which are characterised by the cyclic on the base of the available experimental data and
alternation of action and “near-field” earthquake codes provisions (UBC 91 and AIJ 90), it is clear
where the impulsive feature of the ground motion that the cracking occurring in the connections cannot
is predominant, as it occurred in Kobe. be considered unusual.
It has also to be remembered that, regarding the In the experimental tests carried out in USA, a
strength requirements, the American code UBC 91 plastic rotation supply equal to 0.02 rad has been
provides for special moments resisting frames a re- used as a benchmark to judge the seismic perform-
duction factor Rw equal to 12, which is equivalent to ance of beam-to-column connections, because it was
a value of the European q-factor equal to 8. On the believed to be sufficient to withstand severe earth-
contrary, Eurocode 8 provides a q-factor value equal quakes. As the recent experience demonstrated that
to 6 and the Japanese code a structural coefficient Ds this limit value can be exceeded, it is clear that the
equal to 0.25 which corresponds to q = 4. Therefore, attention should be focuses on the design value of
concerning the damage experienced by steel build- the q-factor which could be reduced in order to limit
ings during the Northridge earthquake, it could be plastic rotation demands occurring during severe
attributed to an excess of local ductility demand due earthquakes or, as an alternative, on the improve-
to the high earthquake intensity compared with the ment of the seismic performances of dissipative
adopted design level. zones.
Furthermore, in U.S. practice the beam flange is The SAC Steel Project has been developed to de-
welded to the column flange by provisionally using rive new design procedures accounting for the les-
bolted connection in the beam web during the erec- sons learned from the Northridge earthquake. In par-
tion. In such a connection, the bending moment at ticular, the structural design philosophy, as well as
the beam web is hardly transmitted to the column, the characteristics of welding and of the structural
resulting in the stress concentration in flanges at the details, the velocity of load application and the in-
end of beams. This normally occurs in a beam-to- fluence of the earthquake vertical component are the
column connection because, while the stress trans- main issues under investigation within the SAC Pro-
mission between the beam flange and the column is ject (STESSA 2000).
completely made through the diaphragm plate, the Also in Europe, from the observation of damage
bending moment in the web of the beam cannot be in steel structure connections after the earthquakes
transmitted completely to the column, since the of Northridge and Kobe it seemed that there is an
stress transmission is made through the out-of-plane urgent need to investigate new topics such as the in-
bending of the column flange. The diaphragm plate fluence of the strain rate on the cyclic behaviour of
is usually thicker and wider than the beam flange beam-to-column joints and more in general to re-
and, therefore, the fracture develops on the side of view the whole background of modern seismic codes
the beam (Mazzolani, 1998). in order to grasp the design rules which failed (Maz-
These effects were increased by the fact that the zolani, 1998).
weak-beam type is preferred both in Japan and USA The following question can raise: «Can the re-
as a yield-mechanism. In addition the use of com- sults of the American and Japanese “on field” ex-
pact beam sections, with small width to thickness ra- perience be applied to European practice ? ».
tio, in order to avoid local buckling, gives rise to It has to be considered that the steel grade, the
stress concentration in the beam flanges and brittle chemical composition and the mechanical character-
mode of failure in the connection. Besides, defects istics of the steel can be different. Also the welding
in material of the heavy column must be an incentive technique can be different. In addition, different
for the propagation of brittle cracks on the side of strength requirements and different levels of seismic
the column. input lead to different plastic rotation demands.
Both in USA and in Japan extensive programs of In this context, a group of 8 European Countries
experimental tests has been carried out on beam-to- (Italy, Romania, Greece, Portugal, France, Belgium,
Bulgaria, Slovenia) developed a joint research pro-
ject (INCO-COPERNICUS), co-called RECOS
(“Reliability of Connections of Steel Frame Build-
ings in Seismic Areas”), sponsored by the European
Commission (Mazzolani, 1999c). The program of
the joint project has been established in order to Figure 14. General view of the Naples Management Centre
provide an answer to the above questions, by ac- (CDN).
complishing the following objectives: a) Analysis
and synthesis of research results, including Code of Naples was included in the third sismicity zone,
Provisions, in relation with the evidence of North- the lowest one, which corresponds to a seismic in-
ridge and Kobe earthquakes. Particular attention has tensity coefficient equal to 0.04, according to the na-
been devoted also to those research results which tional seismic code. At that time for buildings al-
have not accounted for in preparing the provisions of ready designed, but not yet under construction or at
the modern seismic codes. b) Assessment of new cri- their early beginning it was necessary to provide the
teria for selecting the behaviour factor for different up-grading of the structural scheme, by keeping the
structural typologies and definition of the corre- same typology and introducing suitable strengthen-
sponding range of validity. In particular, in this ing changes in order to fulfil the new seismic re-
field, the need to provide simplified methods for quirements. It was in the case of many buildings of
evaluating the q-factor is felt more and more urgent. the Management Centre. They range from 25 m to
The aim is to provide the designer with an operative 120 m high and most of them belong to the relevant
tool, which allows him to be aware of the inelastic category of primary importance for civil protection.
performances of the designed structure. c) Identifi- Many different solutions have been conceived for
cation and evaluation of the structural characteristics the seismic-resistant structures, both classical and
of connections influencing the seismic response of innovative. The most used classical solution is the
steel buildings. Therefore, the research has been de- mixed one, in which reinforced concrete cores pro-
voted to the strength and stiffness evaluation of vide to stabilize the steel skeleton against the effect
moment resistant connections and to the prediction of horizontal loads (Figure 15). Many of the follow-
of their degradation under cyclic loads, by consider- ing applications shown here belong to this typology.
ing also the effect of strain rate and temperature.
Low cycle fatigue has been also investigated. d)
Definition of criteria for designing and detailing
beam-to-column connections for seismic resistant
structures, considering also the seismicity of the site
(far-source and near-source effects) (Mazzolani,
1999d, 2000).
Figure 15. Some mixed solutions for buildings in the CDN of
8 DESIGN AND APPLICATIONS Naples.
a) b)
c) d) e)
Figure 21. The new Fire Station of Naples (Building E).
Figure 23. The Mara Hotel in Sinaia (Romania): a) general
Different typologies are used in Italy in higher view; b) the eccentric K-bracing; c) the eccentric D-bracing; d)
sismicity areas, like in Messina (Sicily), where ec- link-to-brace connection; e) 'dog-bone' connection at the col-
centric bracing frames (EBF) are used for the struc- umn base.
ture of the seven storeys building built in 1996 for
the Library of the new Department of Literature and EBF systems have been used by the same Author
Philosophy of the University (Figure 22). The shape in the office building of the ROMTRANS Company
of the building is an octagonal prism. The eccentri- in Constanta and in the retrofitting of an office
cally braced system of “K” shaped bracings has been building in Bucharest (1996).
calibrated in order to achieve the simultaneous en- Again EBF are used more recently in the Banc
gagement into plastic range of the links located at Post Building (designer D. Dubina, proof engineer
the different stories. All connections in the moment V. Gioncu) in Timisoara (Figure 24a). The steel
resisting frames are rigid and of full-strength type skeleton of five levels is a space moment resisting
(D’Amore and D'Amore, 1997). A seismic resistant frame composed by cruciform columns and inte-
steel structure with eccentric bracings (EBF) has grated by K-bracings (Figure 24b). The bolted end-
been designed for the first time in Romania by Dra- plate beam-to-column connections (Figure 24c) have
gos Georgescu (1996). The Mara Hotel (Figure 23a), been preliminarily tested under cyclic loading at the
located in the picturesque mountain town of Sinaia, laboratory of the University of Timisoara (Dubina et
has a structure composed by a gravitational system al, 2000). Mixed solutions are very popular also in
for vertical loads and an EBF system resisting seis- Portugal. In the campus of the University of Lisbon
mic actions and providing the required stiffness. two new ten storeys buildings, shaped as mush-
rooms, have been recently erected (1994-1999); they
are the Departments of Electronic and Chemistry
(Figure25a).Both buildings consist in a central rein-
forced concrete core for stairs and elevators, which
supports large cantilever beams every three levels.
a) b)