Seismic design of buckling-restrained knee-braced frames considering cumulative damage

A buckling-restrained knee-braced frame (BRKBF) is an efficient structural system utilizing short buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) as knee bracing elements. Because of the shorter yielding core length compared to those of conventional BRBs, one of the key parameters concerning the performance of this system is the low cycle fatigue cumulative damage of the BRBs. This paper presents a seismic design method considering the cumulative damage, performance evaluation, and collapse assessment of 3-story, 6-story, and 9-story archetype BRKBFs. An energy-based plastic design method was utilized to design the example frames. The frames were then evaluated by nonlinear static analysis and multiple-stripe analysis (MSA). The results indicated that BRKBs were able to accommodate seismic motions with limited damage. The validity of the design methodology considering cumulative damage was also confirmed