Moment ratio considering composite beam action for steel special moment frames

The strong column-weak beam (SCWB) moment ratio is specified in AISC 341 to prevent an abrupt column sway in steel special moment frames (SMFs) during earthquakes. Even when the SCWB requirement is satisfied for an SMF, a column-sway can develop in the SMF. This is because the contribution of the composite beam action developed in the concrete floor slab and its supporting beams was not included while calculating the SCWB moment ratio. In this study, we developed a new method for calculating the SCWB moment ratio that included the contribution of composite beam action. We evaluated the seismic collapse performance of the SMFs considering various risk categories and building heights. We demonstrated that the collapse performance of the SMFs was significantly improved by using the proposed SCWB equation that also satisfied the target performance specified in ASCE 7.