BMe

Research
Grant

VsrhelyiPlDoctoralSchool
FacultyofCivilEngineering,DepartmentofStructuralEngineering
Supervisor:LszlGergelyVighPhD.

BucklingRestrainedBracedFramedesignprocedureevaluation
throughexperimentalandnumericalanalyses
Introducingtheresearcharea

MyresearchfocusesonthebehaviourofBucklingRestrainedBraces(BRB).The
primaryobjectiveistoverifythatthedesignprocedureproposedbyourresearch
group is appropriate for European application and its use results in economical
earthquake resistant Buckling Restrained Braced Frames. A special framework
for evaluation of the design of antiseismic systems is adopted to achieve this
goal. The framework is configured with the help of experimental and numerical
analysisresults.

Figure1.BucklingRestrainedBracedFrames(source:StarSeismic)
Briefintroductionoftheresearchplace

I carry out my research at the Department of Structural Engineering. Our

departmenthasbeenactivelyparticipatinginstateoftheartresearchinthefield
of Structural Engineering and Bridge Design. We are also members of several
high priority projects as consultant, codesigner or independent inspector (e.g.
Pentele bridge, Hrosi bridge). Experiments performed at our accredited
StructuralLaboratoryprovidevaluableinformationonstructuralbehaviour.
Earthquakesandearthquakeresistantdesignbecameoneofthemainresearch
interestsinthedepartmentduringthepastdecade.Currentlyaresearchgroupis
devoted to this subject. Lszl Gergely Vigh, the leader of the group is also a
member of the TC13 committee of ECCS, thus actively participates in the
improvementoftheEuropeanseismicdesignstandard(Eurocode8[1]).
Historyandcontextoftheresearch

Earthquake engineers have recognised the inefficiency of conventional, elastic

structural design at regions of high seismicity by the second half of the 20th
century. When subjected to loading, linearly elastic structural members suffer
deformations that are proportional to the load intensity. These deformations are
only temporary the members regain their original shape after unloading.
Dissipative structural members are typically characterized by plastic behaviour
beyondacertainloadlevel.Plasticdeformationsareirreversible,theyremainas
residualdeformationsevenafterunloading.Animportantconsequenceofplastic
behaviour is the significant amount of dissipated energy through plastic
deformations.

Figure2.Comparisonofthebehaviouroflinearlyelasticanddissipativestructural
members

Providedthattherearedissipativemembersdesignedatkeypointsinastructure,
itwillbeabletodissipatethemajorityofseismicenergyand significantly reduce
the internal forces resulting from earthquakes. Design of such structures is a
complexprocedure(capacitydesign)thatwasestablishedbyTamsPaulay.
Structuralsteelisfrequentlyusedindissipativestructuralmembersbecauseofits
advantageous inelastic behaviour. However, capacity of conventional steel
members is significantly limited under compression, because they typically
buckle before reaching the load level that corresponds to plastic behaviour.
Consequently, these members are taken into account in design as tensiononly
braces and not used to their full capacity. Buckling Restrained Braces were
developed in the 1980s in Japan [2] to improve steel brace performance by
preventing the occurrence of buckling. Figure 4 displays the components of the
element.Acentralsteelcoreis continuouslysupportedbyaconcretefilledsteel
hollowsection.Thecontinuouslateralsupportpreventsbucklingofthecore.The
core and the casing are decoupled, so that axial loads are resisted by the steel
core only. BRB elements are capable of producing the theoretical steel material
behaviouratanelementlevel,thustheirenergydissipationcapability is superior
toconventionalsteelbraces.

Figure3.Comparisonofcyclicbehaviourofconventionalsteelbracesandthe
BRB

Figure4.Primarycomponentsofabucklingrestrainedbrace

Theresearchgoal,openquestions

BRBs have been actively used and researched in both Japan and the United
Statesbytheyear2000[3,4].TheirinvestigationinEuropebeganatthe end of
the last decade, while practical use is hindered by the lack of a standardized
Europeandesignprocedure.Ourprimaryobjectiveisthe evaluation of a design
procedurebasedontheprinciplesofcapacitydesignthatcanbeincludedinthe
nextrevisionoftheEuropeanseismicdesignstandard.Theproposedprocedure
shall be simple enough to be applicable as a part of everyday engineering
practice.
The performed research shall analyse the introduced simplifications to BRB
design and verify the appropriate behaviour of structures designed with the
proposedprocedure.Thisrequiresdetailedandaccurate understanding of BRB
behaviour,especiallyitsenergydissipationcapabilityundercyclicloadingandits
expectedfailuremodes.Although thereareexperimentalresultsintheliterature
(e.g. [5,6]), they do not fully answer to some of our questions. BRB failure
becauseoflowcyclefatigueandtheresultingdependenceofBRBperformance
ontheloadhistoryforinstanceisgenerallyaccepted,butthereareonlyalimited
number of results in literature concerning this phenomenon. Collecting more
experimentaldataonthistopicpromisesmoreaccurateestimationofthecapacity
ofBRBbasedstructuralsolutions.
BesidesfacilitatingtheapplicationofBRBframesinEurope,ourresultsalsolead
toamoredetailedunderstandingofBRBbehaviour,thustheyarealsoapplicable
to research outside of Europe. Our research group cooperates with one of the
worlds leading BRB manufacturers, Star Seismic, and we established joint
researchprojectswithseveralEuropeanuniversities.
Methodology

InvestigationofBRBbehaviour

BRBbehaviourundercyclicloadinghasbeeninvestigatedbyuniaxialcyclicload
tests on a total of 10 specimens.A custom loading frame has been built at the
StructuralLaboratoryfortheseexperiments.


Figure5.Customloadingframedesignedfortheexperiments

Three load protocols (load history functions) have been developed that comply
with the requirements of EN15129 [7], the European standard for antiseismic
devices. Each protocol focuses on a specific BRB property (e.g. energy
dissipationcapability,loadhistoryinfluence).Loadingwasdisplacementcontrolled
inallcasestheprescribeddisplacementlevelswerereachedbyapplyingloadon
theBRBspecimenthroughhydraulicjacksintheloadingframe.

Figure6.Loadprotocolfortheanalysisofloadhistoryinfluencetheinitialcycles
withlargeamplitudeareexpectedtoaffectthebehaviourinlatercycles

The experienced behaviour is best described by forcedisplacement diagrams.

The diagram in Figure 7 shows the initial elastic behaviour, followed by the
yieldingofthesteelcore.Theeffectofthetwotypesofhardening(kinematicand
isotropic) is also visible on the curves. Note that BRB behaviour is asymmetric
theelementshaveincreasedcapacityundercompression.

Figure7.Typicalexperimentalforcedisplacementdiagram

NumericalBRBmodel

Laboratoryexperimentsrequiresignificantfinancialresourcesandtime,therefore
virtual experiments are often used in current civil engineering research projects.
These are experiments performed on computer models (typically in a finite
element modelling environment) calibrated by the available results from
laboratory tests. Our research group has such a model for BRB that provides
deeperunderstandingtoelementbehaviour[Z1,8].
Virtual experiments require a detailed model made of three dimensional finite
elements that follow the geometry of the specimen and the changes in material
properties with high accuracy. This complex model is an effective tool for
simulated experiments, but it is inefficient for the global analysis of frame
structures,becauseitusesathelargeamountofcomputationalresources.Global
analysisrequiresasimplified,fastermodelthatstillapproximatesBRBbehaviour
withsufficientaccuracy.Idevelopedthissimplemodelbyusingasimpleprismatic
beamelementwithacustommadematerialmodel[Z2].Sinceelementgeometry

cannotbefollowedbysuchasimplefiniteelement,allBRBcharacteristicshadto
bemodelledbythecustommaterial.

Figure8.ConfigurationofthesimplifiednumericalBRBmodel

Designprocedureevaluation

The proposed design procedure is verified with a framework based on

recommendationsintheFEMAP695document[9].Thesuggestedmethodology
evaluatesdesignprocedurethroughtheinvestigation of a large number (3050)
oftypicalstructures,socalledarchetypes.Thesearebuildingsthatareexpected
to use the proposed system in the region under consideration (Europe in our
case).Performanceofeacharchetypeisevaluatedbydetailednonlineardynamic
analysis[10].
The seismic effect and the structural response (e.g. displacements, internal
forces) are considered probabilistic variables that are approximated by a finite
numberofsamplesduringthenonlinearanalyses.Seismicexcitationisdescribed
by 44 acceleration records from recent earthquakes that include some of the
devastatinggroundmotionsinthepastfourdecades(e.g.Kobe,Northridge,Chi
Chi etc.) Structural response is evaluated separately for the 44 records this
provides 44 samples for the structural response variable. The set of records is
scaledtoincreasinglevelsofseismicintensityandtheresponseofthestructureis
evaluated at each level. This provides a detailed understanding of the seismic
performanceofthestructurethatissummarizedinfragilitycurves.Fragilitycurves
describethecollapseprobabilityofastructureatdifferentseismicintensitylevels.
Design procedure evaluation is based on the fragility curves corresponding to
eacharchetype.

Figure9Resultofnonlineardynamicanalysesandthecorrespondingfragility
curves
Results

Laboratoryexperiments

Experimental tests with custom load protocols have verified the advantageous
energy dissipation capabilities of BRB elements [Z3, Z4]. Sensitivity of BRB
behaviour to the geometric proportions of the steel core has been highlighted
through the results of two specimens. Disadvantageous core geometry leads to
strong axis buckling near the transition zone of the core, and this eventually
resultsinafailuremodethatsignificantlyreducestheenergydissipationcapability
oftheelement[Z5].

ZSARNCZAI
dm
emailaddress

BMeResearch
Grant2013

2ndPrize

Figure10.Significantdeformationfromstrongaxisbucklingpriortofailurenear
thetransitionzoneofthesteelcore(left)nodeformationexperiencedwhen
propercoregeometryisused(right)

Basedon experimental results, I defined parameters required for practical BRB

design and quality control in accordance with European standards. These
parameters describe a bilinear stressstrain relationship and its acceptable
variance[Z6].

Figure11.SimplifiedbilinearstressstrainrelationshipforpracticaldesignofBRB
elements

Numericalmodel

I developed a custom BRB material model [Z7] in the OpenSEES open source
finiteelementcode[11].Whencombinedwithaprismaticbeamelement,thenew
material model provides an effective and accurate representation of BRB
behaviour that does not require large amounts of computational resources. The
model is based on the MenegottoPinto steel material [12]. The kinematic
hardening of the original material is extended with isotropic hardening. The
original stress function is modified to include three asymptotes instead of two.
Withthismodification,astresslimitcanbeintroducedinthemodelthateffectively
describes the ultimate stress of the material. Load history dependence is also
includedinthenewmodel,thusmaterialbehaviourisinfluencedbythepreviously
taken path in the stressstrain plain. These characteristics are controlled
independentlyundertensionandcompression,thereforethematerialmodelcan
handletheasymmetricBRBbehaviour.Iamnotawareofanyothersteelmaterial
model with such small computational resource requirement and such large
flexibilityinapplicationinthecurrentlyavailablefiniteelementcodes.

Figure12Characteristicstressstraincurvesofthedevelopedmaterialmodeland
thestressfunctionthatdescribesthem

Designprocedureevaluationframework

I developed a custom software for design procedure evaluation based on the

OpenSEESenvironment.Thesoftwareautomaticallyproducesthefragilitycurve
ofanyarchetypeaccordingtothecomplexmethodologydescribedinFEMAP695
[Z8, Z9]. I proposed modifications to the original methodology to reduce the
uncertaintyintheresults.Inotedthattheoriginalprocedureisbasedondetailed
investigation of reinforced concrete and wooden structures performed in
California,thusitsapplicabilitytootherstructuralsystems(e.g.steelframes)and
otherregionsshallbeverified[Z10].
Our joint research with the University of Porto focuses on the extension of the
originalproceduresothatitbecomesapplicabletoanystructuralsolutioninany
seismicregion.Wesuggestusinggroupsofrecordsetsinsteadofthesingleset
of44records.The record sets shall correspond to the seismic intensity and the
vibrationalpropertiesofthestructureunderinvestigation[Z11].Figure 13 shows
thesignificantdifferencebetweenthespectrathatcorrespondtoincreasinglevels
ofseismicintensityandstructureswithvarious natural periods. Record selection
is facilitated by a webbased application that automatically provides the
appropriate set for the given design scenario from a database of more than
10,000 earthquake records [13]. I developed a procedure that combines the
results from several record sets and produces a single fragility curve, thus the
extendedmethodologycanbeintegratedintheoriginalframework.

Figure13.Comparisonofsocalledresponsespectrafromearthquakeswith
increasingintensitiesatthesamelocation(left)governingresponsespectrafor
structureswithdifferentvibrationalproperties(right).
Expectedimpactandfurtherresearch

The design parameters defined from experimental results and the evaluated
designprocedureisexpectedtobeincludedinafuturerevisionoftheEurocode8
standard through the work of the ECCS TC13 committee. Therefore, the
investigatedprocedureisexpectedtodefinethedesignofBRBframesinEurope
TheaccuracyandefficiencyofthedevelopednumericalBRBmodelisexpected

tofacilitateitsintegrationintheofficialOpenSEESrelease.Thiswouldleadtoits
worldwideuseinBRBrelatedstateoftheartresearch.
The extension of the original framework for design procedure evaluation is an
important step towards a general solution for this problem. The proposed
frameworkisexpectedtobecapableofevaluatingarbitraryantiseismicsolutions
and lead to more economical design and a better understanding of structural
behaviourunderseismicexcitation.
Besides the University of Porto, we are establishing joint research projects with
several other European universities (Instituto Superior Tcnico of Lisbon,
UniversityofNaplesFedericoII,PolitechnicaUniversityofTimisoara,University
ofOxford)toimproveexistingBRBdesignsandextendtheapplicationofBRBsto
newareas.
Publications,references,links

Publications
[Z1]BudahzyV.,Zsarnczay.,VighL.G.,DunaiL.,Numericalmodel
developmentforcyclichardeninginvestigationofsteelyieldbaseddisplacement
dependentdevices.Proc.15thWorldConferenceonEarthquakeEngineering(15
WCEE),Lisbon,Portugal,pp.110.paper5222.(2012)

[Z2]Zsarnczay.,VighL.G.,Kihajlsbiztosmerevtrdciklikusviselkedsnek
elemszintmodellezseinHungarian.XI.MagyarMechanikaiKonferencia,
Miskolc,Hungary,9p.(2011)

[Z3]Zsarnczay.,VighL.G.,Experimentalanalysisofbucklingrestrainedbrace
behaviourundercyclicloading.28thDanubiaAdriaSymposiumonAdvances
inExperimentalMechanics,Sifok,Hungary,pp.297298.(2011)

[Z4]Zsarnczay.,VighL.G.,Kihajlsbiztosmerevtrudakksrletivizsglata
inHungarian.MagyarptiparLXII:(6)pp.222230.(2012)

[Z5]Zsarnczay.,VighL.G.,Experimentalanalysisofbucklingrestrained
braces:Performanceevaluationundercyclicloading.Proceedingsof
EUROSTEEL20116thEuropeanConferenceonSteelandComposite
Structures.Budapest,Hungary,pp.945950.(2011)

[Z6]Zsarnczay.,BudahzyV.,VighL.G.,DunaiL.,Cyclichardeningcriteriain
EN15129forsteeldissipativebraces.JournalofConstructionalSteelResearch
83,pp.19.(2013)

[Z7]Zsarnczay.,BudahzyV.,UniaxialMaterialModelDevelopmentfor
NonlinearResponseHistoryAnalysisofSteelFrames.ProcSecondConference
ofJuniorResearchersinCivilEngineering,Budapest,Hungary,pp.307317
(2013)

[Z8]Zsarnczay,SeismicPerformanceevaluationofbucklingrestrainedbraces
andframestructures.Proc9thfibInternationalPhDSymposiuminCivil
Engineering,Karlsruhe,Germany,pp.195200(2012)

[Z9]Zsarnczay.,InfluenceofPlasticMechanismDevelopmentontheSeismic
PerformanceofBucklingRestrainedBracedFramescasestudy.Proc.
ConferenceofJuniorResearchersinCivilEngineering,Budapest,Hungary,pp.
289297(2012)

[Z10]Zsarnczay.,VighL.G.,Capacitydesignprocedureevaluationfor
bucklingrestrainedbracedframeswithincrementaldynamicanalysis.Proc.15th
WorldConferenceonEarthquakeEngineering(15WCEE),Lisbon,Portugal,pp.
110.paper3533.(2012)

[Z11]Zsarnczay.,MacedoL.,CastroJ.M.,VighL.G.,Anovelgroundmotion
recordselectionstrategyforIncrementalDynamicAnalysis.Proc.Vienna
CongressonRecentAdvancesinEarthquakeEngineeringandStructural
Dynamics,(2013)(submitted)

Links:
Bucklingrestrainedbraces
Capacitydesign
OpenSEES

FEMAP695
StarSeismicEurope

References:
[1]EN19981:2008,Eurocode8:designofstructuresforearthquakeresistance
part1:generalrules,seismicactionsandrulesforbuildings.CEN(2008)

[2]WatanabeA.,HitomiY.,SaekiE.,WadaA.,FujimotoM.,PropertiesofBrace
EncasedinBucklingRestrainingConcreteandSteelTube.Proc.NinthWorld
ConferenceonEarthquakeEngineeringIV.pp.719724(1988)

[3]LpezWA,SabelliR,Seismicdesignofbucklingrestrainedbracedframes.
SteelTips(2004)

[4]ANSI/AISC34110.Seismicprovisionsforstructuralsteelbuildings.AISC
(2010)

[5]RomeroP.,ReaveleyL.D.,MillerP.J.,OkahashiT.O.,FullscaletestingofWC
seriesbucklingrestrainedbracestestreport.SaltLakeCity:DepartmentofCivil
&EnvironmentalEngineering,TheUniversityofUtah(2007)

[6]MerrittS.,UangCh.M.,BenzoniG.,Subassemblagetestingofstarseismic
bucklingrestrainedbracestestreport.SanDiego:DepartmentofStructural
Engineering,UniversityofCalifornia(2003)

[7]EN15129,Antiseismicdevices.CEN(2010)

[8]BudahzyV.,Modellingofthehystereticbehaviourofbucklingrestrained
braces.ProcConferenceofJuniorResearchersinCivilEngineering,Budapest,
Hungary,pp.3441(2012)

[9]FEMAP695,Quantificationofbuildingseismicperformancefactors.Federal
EmergencyManagementAgency,Washington,D.C.(2009)

[10]Vamvatsikos,D.andCornell,C.A.,Incrementaldynamicanalysis.
EarthquakeEngineeringandStructuralDynamics.31:491514.(2002)

[11]McKennaF.,FenevesG.L.,Opensystemforearthquakeengineering
simulation.PacificEarthquakeEngineeringResearchCenter,(2012)

[12]Menegotto,M.,Pinto,P.,MethodofAnalysisforCyclicallyLoadedReinforced
ConcretePlaneFramesIncludingChangesinGeometryandNonelasticBehavior
ofElementsunderCombinedNormalForceandBending.IABSESymposiumon
ResistanceandUltimateDeformabilityofStructuresActedonbyWellDefined
RepeatedLoads,FinalReport,Lisbon(1973)

[13]PEERNGADatabase:
http://peer.berkeley.edu/peer_ground_motion_database