Effect of gravity columns on mitigation of drift concentration for braced frames

Abstract

In strong earthquake events, multi-story concentrically braced steel frames (CBFs) are prone to form a story-collapse mechanism after buckling and yielding of the braces in a story. With the addition of continuous gravity columns and the increased lateral stiffness and strength they provide, however, it becomes possible to reduce the concentration of story drift and prevent the story collapse. Nonlinear dynamic analysis is implemented for a three-story CBF, and it is demonstrated that a drift concentration is inevitable, particularly in the first story, when the CBF is subjected to a set of large ground motions with a probability of exceedance of 2% in 50 years. A simplified theoretical formulation is presented to characterize the effect of gravity columns. Two cases are considered: gravity columns perfectly fixed, and gravity columns pinned at the base. It is noted that significant mitigation of drift concentration can be achieved, particularly when gravity columns are fixed at the base. Nonlinear time-history analysis is further performed to validate the theoretical observations and quantify the stiffness/strength demands of gravity columns to avoid drift concentration. The analysis results support the trends and observations obtained from the theoretical formulation. Finally, numerical simulations are implemented with the seismic force reduction factor D s , slenderness ratio of braces λ , and number of stories, as major analysis variables. The results demonstrate that a few (e.g. four) fixed-base gravity columns can lead to collapse prevention for reasonably designed low-rise CFBs under the set of large ground motions.