Minimum cost performance-based seismic design of reinforced concrete frames with pushover and nonlinear response-history analysis

Previous studies compare results of pushover and nonlinear response-history analysis of predesigned reinforced concrete frames. The present study employs nonlinear response-history analysis and pushover analysis with the N2 method in a computational framework for the optimum performancebased seismic design of reinforced concrete frames according to the fib Model Code 2010 methodology and compares their obtained design solutions in terms of cost and structural performance. It is found that the minimum costs of pushover-based designs are similar to the costs from response-history analysis for regular frames but the pushover-based designs can be more expensive for irregular frames. Furthermore, the pushover-based designs are not guaranteed to satisfy performance objectives when subjected to response-history analysis even when more than one lateral load distributions are applied

Direct damage controlled seismic design of plane steel degrading frames

A new method for seismic design of plane steel moment resisting framed structures is developed. This method is able to control damage at all levels of performance in a direct manner. More specifically, the method: (a) can determine damage in any member or the whole of a designed structure under any given seismic load, (b) can dimension a structure for a given seismic load and desired level of damage and (c) can determine the maximum seismic load a designed structure can sustain in order to exhibit a desired level of damage. In order to accomplish these things, an appropriate seismic damage index is used that takes into account the interaction between axial force and bending moment at a section, strength and stiffness degradation as well as low cycle fatigue. Then, damage scales are constructed on the basis of extensive parametric studies involving a large number of frames exhibiting cyclic strength and stiffness degradation and a large number of seismic motions and using the above damage index for damage determination. Some numerical examples are presented to illustrate the proposed method and demonstrate its advantages against other methods of seismic design. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Optimal weakening and damping using polynomial control for seismically excited nonlinear structures

This paper presents an approach for the optimal design of a new retrofit technique called weakening and damping that is valid for civil engineering inelastic structures. An alternative design methodology is developed with respect to the existing ones that is able to determine the locations and the magnitude of weakening and/or softening of structural elements and adding damping while insuring structural stability. An optimal polynomial controller that is a summation of polynomials in nonlinear states is used in Phase 1 of the method to reduce the peak response quantities of seismically excited nonlinear or hysteretic systems. The main advantage of the optimal polynomial controller is that it is able to automatically stabilize the structural system. The optimal design of a shear-type structure is used as an example to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed approach, which leads to a reduction of both peak inter-story drifts and peak total acceleration