Behavior and design of structures with buckling-restrained braces

Energy dissipation capacity and earthquake response of steel structures installed with buckling-restrained braces (BRB) were investigated, and a straightforward design procedure to meet a given target displacement was developed. A formulation for optimum yield strength of BRB that maximize the equivalent damping ratio was derived, and nonlinear dynamic time-history analyses were carried out to investigate the seismic response of model structures with BRB. The analysis results show that the maximum displacements of structures generally decrease as the stiffness of the brace increases, and that the maximum displacement of the model structures designed in accordance with the proposed method corresponds well with the given target displacement.