Study of Eccentric and Buckling-Restrained Bracing Systems Used in Frames

The present paper studies eccentric braces (EBs) and buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) used in steel frames. The eccentrically braced frames (EBFs) and buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) that have respectively employed the EBs and BRBs are considered with different types of links as shear, moment-shear and moment links depending on their link length which is an important factor in the design of the EBFs and BRBFs. The BRB consists of a steel core and its surrounding steel tube filled with concrete. The concrete confinement prevents buckling of the steel core. The analysed EBFs and BRBFs by the finite element software ABAQUS under earthquake records are taken into account. Effects of the links of the EBFs and BRBFs on the performance of the frames are discussed. The results uncover that most of the lateral displacements of the EBFs and BRBFs having the shear link are smaller than their counterparts having the moment-shear and moment links, whilst, all the base shear capacities of the former are the greatest. However, majority of the EBFs and BRBFs with the moment link dissipate less energy than their counterparts with the shear and moment-shear links, whereas, most of the link rotations of the former are smaller than the latter. In addition, the BRBFs generally demonstrate better performance than their EBF counterparts.