Ductility demands of steel frames equipped with self-centring fuses under near-fault earthquake motions considering multiple yielding stages

This paper investigates the ductility demands of steel frames equipped with self-centring fuses under near-fault earthquake motions considering multiple yielding stages. The study is commenced by verifying a trilinear self-centring hysteretic model accounting for multiple yielding stages of steel frames equipped with self-centring fuses. Then, the seismic response of single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems following the validated trilinear self-centring hysteretic law is examined by a parametric study using a near-fault earthquake ground motion database composed of 200 earthquake records as input excitations. Based on a statistical investigation of more than fifty-two (52) million inelastic spectral analyses, the effect of the post-yield stiffness ratios, energy dissipation coefficient and yielding displacement ratio on the mean ductility demand of the system is examined in detail. The analysis results indicate that the increase of post-yield stiffness ratios, energy dissipation coefficient and yielding displacement ratio reduces the ductility demands of the self-centring oscillators responding in multiple yielding stages. A set of empirical expressions for quantifying the ductility demands of trilinear self-centring hysteretic oscillators are developed using nonlinear regression analysis of the analysis result database. The proposed regression model may offer a practical tool for designers to estimate the ductility demand of a low-to-medium rise self-centring steel frame equipped with self-centring fuses progressing in the ultimate stage under near-fault earthquake motions in design and evaluation.