Seismic assessment of glulam frames with dual-tube self-centering buckling-restrained braces

The development of resilient lateral load-resisting systems is essential for multi-story and high-rise timber buildings in earthquake-prone areas. In this paper, an attempt is made to integrate dual-tube self-centering buckling-restrained braces (DT-SCBRBs) to glulam frames, aiming to improve their structural resilience to earthquakes. To assess the seismic effectiveness of such a DT-SCBRB glulam frame, nonlinear time-history analyses (NLTHAs) were conducted on a series of prototype DT-SCBRB glulam frames with different building heights and design parameters of DT-SCBRBs. The seismic performance of these prototype structures was evaluated in terms of maximum inter-story drift ratios (MaxISDRs), residual inter-story drift ratios (ResISDRs), and inter-story drift uniformity. The results show that the frame with lower post-tensioning-to-yielding ratios of DT-SCBRBs tended to exhibit lower MaxISDRs but could sometimes lead to higher ResISDRs under major earthquakes. Low deformability of tendons could result in tendon fracture under major earthquakes. The ResISDRs of all the prototype frames were lower than 0.5 %, the drift limit for the “Repairable” performance level. Compared to minor and moderate earthquakes, the DT-SCBRB glulam frames deformed more uniformly during major earthquakes. Incremental dynamic analyses (IDAs) were also conducted on these prototype structures, developing a database to quantify performance levels of DT-SCBRB glulam frames. The MaxISDRs of 0.5 %, 0.7 %, and 2.6 % were recommended for immediate occupancy (IO), life safety (LS), and collapse prevention (CP) limit states of DT-SCBRB glulam frames.