A Comparative Shaking Table Study on Inelastic Torsion and Torsional Performance of Conventional Thermal Power Plant Main Building and Thermal Power Plant Main Building with the Buckling-Restrained Braces

Abstract

In this paper, the shaking table tests and finite element analyses were conducted on the traditional thermal power plant main building and the thermal power plant main building with BRBs, respectively. The differences in torsional resistance between the two structural systems were studied, and the suppression effect on the displacement field distortion of the plane consisting of crane and tracks through adding BRBs in the thermal power plant main building was discussed. The study shows that after adopting a buckling-restrained brace in a thermal power plant main building, the damage and torsional response of the structure under an earthquake can be reduced, the occurrence of inelastic torsion can be effectively blocked, and the translation-torsion coupling effect can be reduced. At the same time, it can reduce the distortion amplitude of the displacement field of the plane consisting of crane and tracks and play a key role in improving the reliability of roof truss, crane, coal bucket, and low-ductility connectors, and it also facilitates the realization of performance-based seismic design.