Damage-control evaluation of high-strength steel frames with energy dissipation bays

This paper reports on a practical seismic-damage-control evaluation method of a high-strength steel (HSS) system comprising HSS frames with energy dissipation bays (EDBs). First, the design concept and seismic performance of the system are illustrated and verified by an experiment on a large-scale two-storey two-bay HSS frame with EDBs. Critical issues considering quantification of the seismic-damage-control threshold and the performance requirement of HSS members are clarified. A stepwise procedure that accounts for both the peak response of the HSS members and the cumulative effect of EDBs is then constructed by applying the energy balance concept and a micromechanics-based fracture model. Subsequently, the procedure is implemented on a prototype structure. The results indicate that the proposed procedure is effective for evaluating seismic performance of both HSS members and EDBs. Compared with direct application of non-linear history response analysis, which is time consuming, the proposed procedure simultaneously retains conceptual and computational advantages.