The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Design of links and beam-to-column connections for eccentrically braced steel frames

Popov, Egor P.; Malley, James O.

UCB/EERC-83/03, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1983-01, 67 pages (530/P65/1983D)

This report has been prepared to be Chapter 11 of the upcoming "ASCE Manual on Beam-to-Column Building Connections," under review by members of the Monograph Task Committee of the Committee on Structural Connections of the ASCE Structural Div. The chapter first introduces the concept and points out some of the advantages of eccentrically braced frames (EBFs) for seismically resistant steel construction. A brief exposition of some of the available design procedures for such frames is provided. An approach is given for appraising the performance of the active links, i.e., beam segments between braces and/or columns, for achieving a stiff elastic structure together with an indication of the ductility demands placed on the links at extreme cyclic overloads. Suggestions for link length selection are made based on experimental results with some 28 full-sized isolated links. Some of the obtained results in these experiments are described and selected hysteretic loops for cyclic loadings are given. Illustrated in this chapter are suggested details for the following items: link-column connections, link-brace connections, and spacing and sizing of link-web stiffeners. Possible applications of EBFs in nonseismic design are also pointed out.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-83-03.pdf (2 MB)