Hysteretic Behavior of Assembled Self-Centering Buckling-Restrained Brace

Abstract:

An assembled self-centering buckling-restrained brace （ASC-RBB） was proposed， and its working mechanism and hysteretic behavior were theoretically analyzed. Furthermore， finite element models were established to investigate the hysteretic behavior of ASC-BRB， and to study the influence of key structural parameters on its hysteretic performance. The results show that the theoretically-derived restoring force model can effectively describe the hysteretic characteristics of ASC-BRB， and the theoretical results are in good agreement with the finite element results. After the combined disc springs being fully compressed， the stiffness of ASC-BRB increases significantly， which can prevent the rapid increment of the stratified deformation and reduce the deformation concentration of structures under strong earthquakes. When designing ASC-BRB， the key structural parameters need to be appropriately selected so that the brace can exhibit an appreciable deformation capacity， energy dissipation， and self-centering ability， and effectively reduce the deformation concentration of structures under strong earthquakes.