Development and experimental validation of deformable connection for earthquake-resistant building systems with reduced floor accelerations
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Abstract
This report briefly presents the development of the deformable connection of an earthquake-resistant building structural system in which the lateral force resisting system (LFRS) is connected to the gravity load resisting system (GLRS) using this type of connection instead of a rigid connection. The GLRS and LFRS are able to move relative to each other, and depending on the characteristics of the connection it is possible to limit the floor accelerations and the overall response of the structure. The deformable connection is accessible for inspection and replacement. It consists of a buckling restrained brace (BRB) or a friction device (FD) which acts as a limited-strength load-carrying hysteretic component, in parallel with low damping rubber bearings (RB). The RB provide the required out-of plane stability to the LFRS, post-elastic in-plane stiffness, and help with partial re-centering. The main objective of this report is to present the experimental results for the nonlinear hysteretic response of two configurations of the full-scale deformable connection tested using the NEES@Lehigh Real-Time Multi-Directional earthquake simulation facility at the Advanced Technology for Large Structural Systems (ATLSS) Engineering Research Center.