Near field earthquakes have imposed major damage to buildings in the past years. In some cases, the intensity of such damage is too considerable to be disregarded. The most effective way to improve seismic performance of buildings is applying a seismic control technique. The cylindrical friction damper is one of these methods, which has become popular for its desirable performance in the energy...

Passively damped bracing systems in steel frames, in which the conventional materials of the joint are replaced by high damping viscoelastic materials, have the potential of being effective practical means for passive vibration control of dynamically loaded civil engineering structures. However, this potential can be realized only if the associated structural penalties are reduced within accept...

The proposed light-frame structure comprises steel columns for vertical loads and an innovative bracing system to efficiently resist seismic actions. This seismic force resisting system consists of a light timber frame braced with an Oriented Strand Board (OSB) sheet and an external technoprene plaster-infilled slab. Steel brackets are used as foundation and floor connections. Experimental cycl...

Timber platform-frame shear walls are characterized by high ductility and diffuse energy dissipation but limited in-plane shear resistance. A novel lightweight constructive system composed of steel columns braced with oriented strand board (OSB) panels was conceived and tested. Preliminary laboratory tests were performed to study the OSB-to-column connections with self-drilling screws. Then, th...

Origami-inspired foldable structures have seen much recent interest for applications in which transportability or rapid construction are primary design drivers, for example emergency shelters and temporary staging structures. This paper proposes a new type of a structural module that can be manually folded from flat steel sheet into a novel self-braced triangular structural section. Simple geom...

The authors propose a design philosophy for steel buildings in moderate seismic regions that draws on familiar concepts of ductility and capacity design, but also integrates the concepts of reserve capacity, elastic flexibility and strength to broaden the field of design possibilities. The paper discusses structural systems representing each of these concepts: Moderate-Ductility Concentrically-...

in this paper, the problem of layout optimization for x-bracing of steel frames is studied using the ant system (as). a new design method is employed to share the gravity and the lateral loads between the main frame and the bracings according to the requirements of the ibc2006 code. an algorithm is developed which is called optimum steel designer (osd). an optimization method based on an approx...

Seismic excitation can cause significant energy to be released within structures. By using special devices, this consumed and dissipated without deforming structural members significantly. Due this, damage is minimized, casualties are prevented during earthquakes, structures extended in their useful life. Over the past five decades, it has been widely acknowledged that steel yielding dampers am...