"Earthquake-Proof?" - Towards Resilient and Economical Steel Building Systems

许多业主期望新建筑是“抗震的”，在本提案中定义为完美的抗震弹性（零失效概率和后果，零恢复时间）。相反，目前大多数抗震设计都是基于允许对结构中选定的“延展性”部分进行损伤，导致其性能远远不能达到“抗震”。2010-2011年新西兰克赖斯特彻奇附近的地震突出了工程师和公众期望之间的差异，导致1000多栋建筑被拆除。在加拿大，一场大地震预计会造成超过600亿美元的损失，比加拿大历史上损失最大的自然灾害还要严重几倍。在较小但更频繁的地震中，损失可能主要是操作和功能部件（OFCs，即非结构部件，如包层和机械设备）的损坏，而这些在典型设计中只被最低限度地考虑。这些地震的社会经济影响不仅体现在直接的维修成本上，还体现在维修期间停机等间接损失上。

Many owners expect new buildings to be “earthquake-proof,” defined in this proposal as an ideal of perfect seismic resilience (zero failure probability and consequences, zero time to recovery). Conversely, most current seismic design is based on allowing damage to selected “ductile” parts of a structure, resulting in performance that is far from “earthquake-proof.” This difference between the expectations of engineers and of the public was highlighted by the 2010-2011 earthquakes near Christchurch, New Zealand, which led to the demolition of over one thousand buildings. In Canada, a single large earthquake is expected to cause over $60 billion in losses, several times more devastating than the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history. In smaller but more frequent earthquakes, losses are likely to be dominated by damage to Operational and Functional Components (OFCs, i.e. non-structural elements such as cladding and mechanical equipment) that are only minimally considered in typical design. The socioeconomic impact of these earthquakes would be felt not only through direct repair costs, but also indirect losses like downtime during repair. Even if completely “earthquake-proof” construction may not be attainable, there is still a clear need to move towards the more seismically resilient construction that the public expects, while still minimizing construction costs. To this end, the objectives of Focus Area A include validating Canadian design guidelines for Controlled Rocking Braced Frames (CRBFs), both coupled with the gravity framing system (G-CRBFs) and separated from it, so that they can be considered for inclusion in the National Building Code and CSA Standard S16 (Design of Steel Structures). In Focus Area B, the objectives include validating design provisions for “strongback braced frames” with Replaceable Brace Modules (RBMs) recently developed by the applicant. Finally, recognizing that seismically resilient construction will require both structural systems that can be quickly repaired and OFCs that can withstand the demands they experience, Focus Area C will use Artificial Intelligence to optimize the seismic design of steel building systems within a Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering framework, with an objective of providing guidance on how to design to minimize total seismic losses. The long-term vision of this research program is for seismic resilience to become a routine objective for all engineered structures in Canada, rather than an enhanced objective reserved for exceptional structures. Building on the applicant's demonstrated leadership in earthquake engineering for enhanced seismic resilience of steel building systems, the proposed research will have direct benefits for Canada by providing guidance to reduce the socioeconomic cost of earthquakes, while providing an inclusive environment for training Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) to lead the field towards more seismically resilient and economical structures.