Evaluation of the Effect of Nonlinear Variable Stiffness Bracing System on Steel Frames

Abstract

In the most recent year, uses of the passive energy dissipation system have turned out to be most notable in the Earthquake Engineering Society. Dampers are utilized as part of the structure to protect it against lateral loads. The improvement of an adaptive seismic activity energy dissipation device has become necessary to enhance control of structures without relying upon electric power, which is not decisive during seismic excitation. When a structural system becomes difficult and earthquake movements get stronger, more energy is required to run these types of devices. Various hybrid and semi-active techniques have been introduced to solve this energy issue. A numerical study for the damper connector and energy dissipation device (variable stiffness bracing system) was presented in this paper to protect structures under the effect of seismic loads. A cyclic load was considered to evaluate the response of a steel structure equipped with a VSB device subjected to cyclic and seismic loads. According to the analysis, the results indicate that the behavior of the steel frames with the VSB system will vary based on the material properties of the device. A finite element G400 steel frame model was considered in this study, so by adding the VSB system to the G400 steel frame model, lesser deformation is obtained. Also, the frame with VSB will resist more force than the G400 bare frame.