HYSTERETIC BEHAVIOR OF CHEVRON BRACE PAIRS WITH STRONG BEAM

Chevron braces are commonly used in tall steel building structures.The compressive brace of this bracing system may experience dramatic strength degradation after buckling,which leads to the formation of a vertical unbalance force in the intersection point of the compressive and tensile braces.Thus,the beam of the chevron braced frame should be designed as a strong beam,i.e.capable of resisting this vertical unbalance force.The results of static push-over analyses showed that the lateral force resistance of a chevron braced frame with strong beam depends largely on the yielding load of the tensile brace.However,each of the bracing members is in the compressive or tensile load alternatively when the braced frame undergoes the severe seismic action,and thus the behaviour of the braced frame is more complicated in this case than that revealed via the push-over analysis.It was carried out a series of analyses on the performance of the chevron braced frames under cyclic and seismic loads.