Seismic resistance of CFT trusses

A CFT truss, in which the chord members comprise concrete-filled tubes (CFTs), may have an excellent capacity to deform, even under cyclically repeated loads such as earthquakes. This paper first provides a brief explanation of the two conditions necessary to prevent a CFT truss from chord-buckling. If both of the conditions are fulfilled, the truss has excellent ductility, making it desirable for use in new earthquake resistant systems. As an example, a multistorey building with a CFT truss is considered herein. The CFT truss in the building is expected to work as a vertically continuous shear wall and to prevent the building from collapsing in a local-storey mode. The ability of a structural system composed of a CFT truss to plastify is demonstrated based on both static and dynamic response analyses.