Evaluating the Effect of Buckling-Restrained Brace Model on Seismic Structural Responses

Abstract

Numerical simulation is an important measure to study the seismic performance of buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs). Practically, some simplified models, such as the elastic–plastic with kinematic hardening model and the elastic perfectly-plastic model, are used to simulate the behavior of buckling-restrained brace (BRBs). To provide structural engineers the reference of errors when simplified models are used, this paper comparatively evaluates the effect of the BRB model on seismic structural responses using the OpenSees software. A comparison is made on six-storey and 16-storey BRBFs with rigid beam-to-column connections; these are designed according to Chinese seismic design code. Moreover, the effects of the post-yielding stiffness ratio of frame [Formula: see text] and the stiffness ratio of BRB to frame [Formula: see text] on the errors are specifically investigated through a parametric study of both BRBFs. The results show that the seismic response average errors of the simplified models are mostly less than 5%, which satisfies the engineering requirements.