Development of Performance Based Plastic Design of EBF Steel Structures Subjected to Forward Directivity Effect

Abstract

Performance-based plastic design (PBPD) is a method which considers the inelastic behavior of a structure for the seismic design that follows a pattern in which a pre-selected yield mechanism is defined for each type of structural system. Despite the general adequacy of this method compared to the code-based method, the need to further improve this method against Forward-Directivity, the well-known characteristic of near-fault ground motions, is of high importance. On the other hand, Eccentrically Braced Frame (EBF) is considered to be an efficient conventional steel-framed system that combines the advantages of moment-resisting frame and concentrically braced frame. In this study, attempts have been made to improve the conventional PBPD method in order to consider the effect of forward-directivity. To this end, the energy modification factor (γ) was modified by recalculating ductility demand µ and ductility reduction factor Rµ of three 6-, 12-, and 18-story EBF structures. Using incremental dynamic analysis, these structures were subjected to 12 well-known near-fault ground motions, and accordingly, the modified energy factor (γ′) was obtained for each set. Then, an equation was proposed to calculate the γ′ based on the fundamental period of the structure. As expected, the code-based designed structures exceeded the allowable drift limits. Although the structures which were designed based on conventional PBPD followed the pre-selected yield mechanism and performed better, they exceeded the drift limits as well. Consequently, the structures which were re-designed using modified energy factor γ′ could well satisfy the acceptance criteria as well as achieving the desirable yield mechanism.