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Title: Shake Table Testing of a Frame-Spine System with Force-Limiting Connections
A novel structural system is being developed collaboratively by researchers from the United States and Japan to protect essential facilities, such as hospitals, where damage to the building and its contents and occupant injuries must be prevented and where continuity of operation must be maintained. The development is focusing on new construction, but it also has potential for use in seismic retrofit of deficient existing buildings. The new system employs practical structural components, including (1) flexible steel moment frames, (2) stiff steel elastic spines and (3) force-limiting connections (FLC) that connect the frames to the spines, to economically control building response and prevent damaging levels of displacement and acceleration. The moment frames serve as the economical primary element of the system to resist a significant proportion of the lateral load, dissipate energy through controlled nonlinear response and provide persistent positive lateral stiffness. The spines distribute response evenly over the height of the building and prevent story mechanisms, and the FLC reduce higher-mode effects and provide supplemental energy dissipation. The full-scale shake-table testing of a building with the Frame-Spine-FLC System, which represents a hospital facility and includes realistic nonstructural components and medical equipment, validated the functionality of the structural system.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2309829
PAR ID:
10631699
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (12NCEE)
Date Published:
Format(s):
Medium: X
Location:
Salt Lake City, UT
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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