Abstract

The present paper proposes an improved design of conventional steel braces (CBBs). CBBs are characterized by intense mid-length local buckling that leads to early fracture, limited post-yielding stiffness, and provide very large strength and stiffness. In the proposed steel brace design, the brace is installed in the surrounding frame by introducing an intentional eccentricity along the member’s length. The inherent action moment caused by eccentricity affects its response and the brace displays approximate trilinear behavior under tension with an increased post-yielding stiffness. Under compression, the brace deforms more uniformly, delaying the local bucking in the middle. The eccentricity directly controls the initial stiffness which can be adjusted without changing the maximum ultimate tensile strength of the brace. The basic concept and the physical theory model to estimate important design quantities of the proposed bracing system are introduced in this paper together with an experimental study.

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