Performance Assessment of Vertically Irregular Steel Buckling-Restrained Braced Frame with Different Bracing Configurations

Vertically irregular buildings are common in modern urban construction. Vertical irregularities may enhance the architectural appearance of the structure but they may significantly affect the performance of the structure. One of the common ways to ensure the safety of the structure under extreme seismic events is to use bracings. These bracings can be placed in different configurations in a structure. This work aims to determine the most effective bracing configuration which can be used to minimize the damage of vertical geometrically irregular steel buckling-restrained braced frames. In this study four two-dimensional models which are representative of commonly constructed vertical geometrically irregular steel buckling-restrained braced frame structures, have been analyzed. The effect of four different types of bracing configurations which include diagonal, chevron, V, and X have been studied for each of the four vertical geometrically irregular models. The nonlinear static analysis is performed for all the models. All the modeling, design, and analysis are performed in ETABS. The results are reported in terms of inter-storey drift ratios, storey displacements, capacity curves, plastic hinge formation, target displacement and base shear.