Numerical Investigation of Seismic Response of Hybrid Buckling Restrained Braced Frames

The Conventional buckling restrained braces used in concentrically braced frames are expected to yield in both tension and compression without major degradation of capacity under severe seismic ground motions. One of the weakness points of a standard buckling restrained braced frame is the low post-yield stiffness and thus large residual deformation under moderate to severe ground motions. This phenomenon can be related to the low post-yield stiffness of the core segment in comparison to its elastic stiffness. This paper investigates the application of stainless steel as the core material in a hybrid buckling restrained brace. The “hybrid” term arises from the use of more than one core component with different steel materials, including high strength high-performance steel and stainless steel (304L) with high strain hardening in the core of buckling restrained brace. Nonlinear dynamic time history analyses were conducted on a variety of diagonally braced frames with different heights, in order to compare the seismic performance of standard (non-hybrid) and hybrid buckling restrained braced frames. The results showed that the proposed hybrid buckling restrained braces reduce the inter-story and specially the residual drift demands in buckling restrained braced frames.