Large Scale Seismic Testing of Steel-Framed Structures at NCREE

Abstract

Four large-scale seismic tests of steel frame structures conducted at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) in Taiwan are presented. They were all collaboration projects between NCREE and other international research partners. The first one, tested in 2003, was a three-storey three-bay buckling restrained braced frame (BRBF) with concrete filled tube (CFT) columns. The pseudo-dynamic testing (PSD) procedure was applied in this test and various kinds of BRB and beam-to-column connections were investigated. The second one was a two-storey one-bay BRB frame subjected to bi-directional ground excitations. This test was conducted in 2005 with the substructure PSD procedure. The performance of BRB-to-gusset connections was investigated. The third one was two-storey one-bay steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) tested in cyclic loading in 2007. The capacity design of the boundary elements for SPSWs was studied and verified. Additionally, the improved performance of SPSWs with restrainers was confirmed. The last series was a two-storey one-bay special concentrically braced frames (SCBFs) subjected to cyclically increased displacement in 2008. The tests confirmed that the X-shape steel SCBFs have good performance for seismic energy dissipation. In order to enable the out-of-plane deformation of the X-shape braces, two kinds of the clearance design for brace-to-gusset connections were studied.