Development of buckling-restrained braces with replaceable core plate

Effective energy dissipation in structures located in seismically active regions plays a critical role. Buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) are among the passive energy dissipators that demonstrate superior performance in this regard. However, widely-used conventional concrete-filled or grout-filled BRB designs possess significant disadvantages concerning additional weight, transportation difficulties, and post-earthquake damage inspection and repair processes. The impossibility of inspecting or replacing the core plate, where damage is concentrated, prevents the reusability of the buckling-restraining mechanism (BRM). Within the scope of this dissertation, the development of an innovative, renewable, all-steel BRB concept, which allows for the easy replacement of the damaged core plate and the reuse of the BRM, was targeted and investigated experimentally and numerically. For this purpose, a two-phase experimental program was conducted on 15 full-scale BRB specimens at the Manisa Celal Bayar University Structural and Earthquake Engineering Laboratory. In the subassemblage test setup, the performance of 5 different BRM configurations and 5 different bolt spacings was tested under AISC 341-22 based cyclic loads. In addition to these experimental studies, numerical analyses were performed using Finite Element Method (FEM) software to optimize the BRM design. According to the obtained test results, the developed BRB concept substantially exceeded the AISC 341-22 qualification criteria and exhibited stable and symmetric hysteretic behavior up to a 4% axial strain level, which is double the code limit. As a result of this dissertation, the feasibility of the reusability of the BRM and connection plates, along with the replaceability of the core plate, was validated, and recommendations for an optimum BRM design were presented. Keywords: buckling-restrained brace, replaceable core plate, reusable buckling-restraining mechanism, cross-section optimization, experimental study, finite element analysis