EC8-based seismic design and assessment of self-centering steel frames with viscous dampers

Tzimas, A., Dimopoulos, A. and Karavasilis, T.L. (2015) EC8-based seismic design and assessment of self-centering steel frames with viscous dampers. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 105, 60-73. (doi:10.1016/j.jcsr.2014.10.022).

Abstract

This paper focuses on seismic design and assessment of steel self-centering moment-resisting frames (SC-MRFs) with viscous dampers within the framework of Eurocode 8 (EC8). Performance levels are defined with respect to drifts, residual drifts and limit states in the post-tensioned (PT) connections. A preliminary pushover analysis is conducted at the early phase of the design process to estimate rotations and axial forces in post-tensioned (PT) connections instead of using approximate formulae. Different designs of an SC-MRF with viscous dampers are considered to investigate all possible scenarios, i.e. use of dampers to achieve drifts significantly lower than the EC8 drift limit; to significantly reduce steel weight without exceeding the EC8 drift limit; or to reduce steel weight and achieve drifts lower than the EC8 drift limit. Nonlinear dynamic analyses using models capable of simulating all structural limit states up to collapse confirm the minimal-damage performance of the SC-MRFs. It is shown that the use of the preliminary pushover analysis makes the design procedure very accurate in predicting structural and non-structural limit states. Supplemental damping along with strict design criteria for the post-tensioned connections are found to significantly improve the seismic performance of the SC-MRFs. Moreover, the paper shows that SC-MRFs with viscous dampers have superior collapse resistance compared to conventional steel MRFs even when the SC-MRF is significantly lighter than the conventional MRF.

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Contributors

Author: T.L. Karavasilis

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