Development of replaceable cast steel links for eccentrically braced steel frames and performance assessment of structures adopting the links

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The proposed research is aimed at developing and testing prototype replaceable cast steel links for eccentrically braced frames (EBFs). EBFs have been extensively used as a main lateral load resisting system in high seismic regions. The proposed replaceable cast steel links can provide significant benefits over the conventional design practice of link beams for EBFs be minimizing stress concentration and premature failure, as well as by allowing replacement of damaged links after earthquake events. To successfully achieve the objective, a project with six research tasks is proposed namely: 1.1) development of alternative designs of replaceable cast steel links, 1.2) element-level performance validation through laboratory tests, 1.3) frame-level performance validation, 2.1) frame-level seismic performance assessment through hybrid simulation, 2.2) development of multi-element hybrid simulation method for structural system-level seismic performance assessment, and 2.3) seismic performance assessment of a five-storey EBF with the developed cast steel links. NSER CRD fund will mainly support Tasks 2.1 through 2.3 while the other tasks will be supported by OCE VIP II fund. The project will be carried out with one PhD and one MASc students for three years. In addition, two undergraduate students will support the graduate students each year for three years. The research outcome will have significant impact to the industry partner, the construction industry, and Canada. Upon the completion of a five-year commercialization plan after the research project, the industry partner will develop a new product line with which they will share $25,000,000 market of EBFs in North America. In addition, the adoption of replaceable cast steel links will lead to resilient society, which can recover, quickly from potential major earthquake events.