Seismic Behavior of Eccentrically Braced Steel Building

Abstract

A full‐scale eccentrically braced dual frame building is tested under the U.S.‐Japan Cooperative Earthquake Research Program Utilizing Large‐Size Testing Facilities. The strength of the building is almost three times greater than the design capacity based on the 1979 and 1982 UBC provisions. The building possesses excellent ductility and energy absorbing capacity, although the energy absorption is concentrated mainly in the lower three stories. Although the excess strength possessed by the building contributes to its excellent behavior, it also leads to premature failure in several connections and large uplift forces in the columns of the braced bay. The performance of the full‐scale building is evaluated and implications that these results have for the design of eccentrically braced frames are presented.