Seismic Response Analysis and Connection Performance Evaluation of a Hybrid Coupled PEC Wall System

This paper proposes a hybrid coupled partially encased composite (PEC) wall system, obtained through the connection of two PEC walls by means of the shear critical steel coupling beams with an innovative welded connection. This structural solution is designed to take advantage of both the stiffness of the PEC walls (required to limit building damage under frequent earthquakes) and the ductility of the steel coupling beams (necessary to dissipate energy under medium-intensity and high-intensity earthquakes). The connection performance of an innovative rigid joint with different configurations in this system is studied through pseudostatic analysis, and the seismic performance of the proposed hybrid coupled PEC wall system is evaluated through multirecord nonlinear dynamic analysis of a set of case studies. Adopted finite element models are developed and validated against the available experimental results. A summary of the results is presented and discussed to highlight the potential of the proposed hybrid coupled PEC wall systems. The key feature of this system is development of a reasonable two-level yielding mechanism (the first level is the yielding of the coupling beams, and the second level is the yielding of the PEC wall) without damage to the welded joints.

Development of Structural Metal Energy-Dissipation Techniques for Seismic Disaster Mitigation of Buildings in China

Buildings in seismic zones are required to provide proper stiffness and load-bearing capacity to resist frequent earthquakes, and possess proper ductility and energy-dissipating capacity to prevent collapse under rare earthquakes. To meet these requirements, the concept of structural energy-dissipation techniques for the bi-functions of load-bearing and energy dissipating are proposed. A number of structural metal energy-dissipation elements, such as buckling-restrained steel plate shear walls, non-buckling corrugated steel plate shear walls, two-level yielding steel coupling beams and energy-dissipative columns, have been developed. They are designed to provide stiffness/strength to guarantee the operation of buildings under frequent earthquakes, but also dissipate energy to reduce seismic effects to a considerable extent for collapse-prevention of buildings. The experimental and theoretical studies on these structural metal energy-dissipating dampers are presented. The efficiency of these structural dampers for disaster mitigation of buildings against earthquakes are also presented to provide a reference for their practical application.