共查询到20条相似文献，搜索用时 31 毫秒
1.
Seismic performance and dynamic response of bridge–embankments during strong or moderate ground excitations are investigated through finite element (FE) modelling and detailed dynamic analysis. Previous research studies have established that bridge–embankments exhibit increasingly flexible performance under high‐shear deformation levels and that soil displacements at bridge abutment supports may be significant particularly in the transverse direction. The 2D equation of motion is solved for the embankment, in order to evaluate the dynamic characteristics and to describe explicitly the seismic performance and dynamic response under transverse excitations accounting for soil nonlinearities, soil–structure interaction and imposed boundary conditions (BCs). Using the proposed model, equivalent elastic analysis was performed so as to evaluate the dynamic response of approach embankments while accounting for soil–structure interaction. The analytical procedures were applied in the case of a well‐documented bridge with monolithic supports (Painter Street Overcrossing, PSO) which had been instrumented and embankment participation was identified from its response records after the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. The dynamic characteristics and dynamic response of the PSO embankments were evaluated for alternative BCs accounting for soil–structure interaction. Explicit expressions for the evaluation of the critical embankment length Lc are provided in order to quantify soil contribution to the overall bridge system under strong intensity ground excitations. The dynamic response of the entire bridge system (deck–abutments–embankments) was also evaluated through simplified models that considered soil–structure interaction. Results obtained from this analysis are correlated with those of detailed 3D FE models and field data with good agreement. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
2.
Development and validation of p‐y modeling approach for seismic response predictions of highway bridges 
下载免费PDF全文
下载免费PDF全文 This study aims to realistically simulate the seismic responses of typical highway bridges in California with considerations of soil–structure interaction effects. The p‐y modeling approaches are developed and validated for embankments and pile foundations of bridges. The p‐y approach models the lateral and vertical foundation flexibility with distributed p‐y springs and associated t‐z and q‐z springs. Building upon the existing p‐y models for pile foundations, the study develops the nonlinear p‐y springs for embankments based on nonlinear 2D and 3D continuum finite element analysis under passive loading condition along both longitudinal and transverse directions. Closed‐form expressions are developed for two key parameters, the ultimate resistant force pult and the displacement y50, where 0.5pult is reached, of embankment p‐y models as functions of abutment geometry (wall width and height, embankment fill height, etc.) and soil material properties (wall‐soil friction angle, soil friction angle, and cohesion). In order to account for the kinematic and site responses, depth‐varying ground motions are derived and applied at the free‐end of p‐y springs, which reflects the amplified embankment crest motion. The modeling approach is applied to simulate the seismic responses of the Painter Street Bridge and validated through comparisons with the recorded responses during the 1992 Petrolia earthquake. It is demonstrated that the flexibility and motion amplification at end abutments are the most crucial modeling aspects. The developed p‐y models and the modeling approach can effectively predict the seismic responses of highway bridges. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
3.
This paper presents new results of centrifuge model tests exploring the behavior of rocking shallow foundations embedded in dry sand, which provides a variety of factors of safety for vertical bearing. The results of slow (quasi‐static) cyclic tests of rocking shear walls and dynamic shaking tests of single‐column rocking bridge models are presented. The moment–rotation and settlement–rotation relationships of rocking footings are investigated. Concrete pads were placed in the ground soil to support some models with the objective of reducing the settlement induced by rocking. The behavior of rocking foundation was shown to be sensitive to the geometric factor of safety with respect to bearing failure, Lf/Lc, where Lf was the footing length, and the Lc was the critical soil‐footing contact length that would be required to support pure axial loading. Settlements were shown to be small if Lf/Lc was reasonably large. Placement of concrete pads under the edges of the footing was shown to be a promising approach to reduce settlements resulting from rocking, if settlements were deemed to be excessive and also had impacts on the energy dissipation and rocking moment capacity. A general discussion of the tradeoffs between energy dissipation and re‐centering of rocking foundations and other devices is included. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
4.
An embankment slope on a major highway totally collapsed during 12 November 1999 Düzce earthquake (Mw=7.1) due to the intense near field ground motion. The slope had performed satisfactorily, without even minor deformations or cracks, during the İzmit earthquake (Mw=7.4), another major event that occurred 3 months before and was far field. Predominantly coarse-grained fill of the embankment exhibited typical non-brittle behavior during laboratory tests, implying that the prefailure shear strength would remain relatively unchanged. Stability and failure mechanism of the embankment slope were investigated through a series of static, pseudostatic and fully coupled non-linear dynamic analyses. While respective performances were correctly predicted by the pseudostatic method on a failure—no failure basis during the two earthquakes, the computed failure surface geometry did not conform to that observed. Fully coupled dynamic response analysis, on the other hand, predicted the failure mechanism and failure surface configuration in conformance with the post-failure observations. Computed displacements were generally less than those observed and critically dependent on the potential uncertainties. 相似文献
5.
A theoretical investigation of the dynamic response of earth dams to the travelling seismic waves is presented. The earth dam is simplified as a truncated two-dimensional elastic wedge. The dam body consists of an isotropical linear viscoelastic material with homogeneous elastic modulus and density. The seismic waves travel along the longitudinal direction of the earth dam. The numerical calculations show the following. (i) For the longitudinal mode of vibration, the greater the ratio (H/L) of the height to the lenght of the complete wedge, the more the natural transverse period of vibrational of the two-dimensional wedge is less than that of the one-dimensional wedge. Especially for the first two natural transverse period, this influence is large. The decrease of the ratio of the natural transverse period for a two-dimensional wedge to that for a one-dimensional wedge with the ratio H/L is rapid for the higher than for the lower longitudinal modes. (ii) Comparing with the one-dimensional wedge, the natural transverse periods for the two-dimensional case in the complete wedge are lower, and they will increase as the coefficient of truncation, h/H increases. (iii) When the frequency of forced vibration is less than the natural transverse frequency for one-dimensional wedge, the amplification is less for a two-dimensional wedge than for a one-dimensional wedge. (iv) When the phase difference of ground motion at both ends of the dam equals π, the amplification for a two-dimensional wedge is less than that for a one-dimensional wedge, but when the phase difference equals nπ, (n > 1), the situation is reversed. (v) As the coefficient of truncation, h/H, increases, the displacement model partecipations decrease monotically. (vi) In general, the displacement caused by an earthquake is greater for a one-dimensional wedge than for a two-dimensional wedge when considering the seismic waves travelling, but the acceleration response of a two-dimensional wedge with long length of dam to travelling seismic waves with long dominant period is greater than that of a one-dimensional wedge. When the length of the dam is short enough, the response of a two-dimensional wedge without considering the influence of travelling seismic waves always gives the greatest value. 相似文献
6.
黏土类土石混合体常作为路基填料在工程中广泛应用,然而其在交通荷载作用下的动力特性方面研究较少。为此,本文以0.05 Lc(Lc为圆柱试样直径)为土体、块石分类阈值,根据土石混合体中砾石掺量、侧限压力的不同,采用自振柱仪对其在小应变(10^-6~10^-4)下的动剪切模量和阻尼比进行研究。结果表明:土石混合体最大动剪切模量随砾石掺量的增加而不断增大,且在20%~40%掺量区间内增幅最大,随侧限压力的增加而增大,且增幅逐渐变小;在应变幅值相同的条件下,动剪切模量衰变程度随砾石掺量的增加而不断减少,且在20%~40%掺量区间内减幅最大,随侧限压力的增加而减小,且减幅逐渐变小;最小、最大阻尼比随砾石掺量和侧限压力的增加而减少。结合试验结果分别从颗粒“骨架”结构性、动态结构稳定性、材料密实度、能量耗散等方面阐述块石掺量和侧限压力对土石混合体动剪切模量和阻尼比的影响机理。最后采用优化Hardin-Drnevich模型建立砾石掺量、侧限压力与土石混合体动力特性参数(最大动剪切模量、参考剪应变、最大阻尼比、最小阻尼比)之间的估算公式,以期为土石混合路基的动力设计和施工提供指导。 相似文献
7.
The paper presents a new higher order model for the dynamic analysis of embankments. By considering a Legendre polynomial expansion to describe the motion at a generic point of the embankment, the application of the Lagrange-D’Alembert principle in conjunction with a through-the-width closed-form integration allows reducing the 3D physical domain into a 2D analytical domain. 4-node isoparametric elements with linear interpolating functions are used to numerically solve the problem. The model is suitable for bridge embankments by introducing a kinematic rigid constraint to account for the presence of the abutment. The embankment frequency dependent impedances and the displacements to be imposed to the abutment in bridge seismic analyses are obtained by condensation. The model has been validated comparing results with those furnished by high-fidelity 3D finite element models. The application to the approach embankment of an instrumented bridge subjected to a severe earthquake has demonstrated the model capability to capture both occurrence and intensity of main response peaks, as well as the frequency content of the response. 相似文献
8.
Abstract Rivers have been channelized, deepened and constrained by embankments for centuries to increase agricultural productivity and improve flood defences. This has decreased the hydrological connectivity between rivers and their floodplains. We quantified the hydrological regime of a wet grassland meadow prior to and after the removal of river embankments. River and groundwater chemistry were also monitored to examine hydrological controls on floodplain nutrient status. Prior to restoration, the highest river flows (～2 m3 s?1) were retained by the embankments. Under these flow conditions the usual hydraulic gradient from the floodplain to the river was reversed so that subsurface flows were directed towards the floodplain. Groundwater was depleted in dissolved oxygen (mean: 0.6 mg O2 L?1) and nitrate (mean: 0.5 mg NO3 ?-N L?1) relative to river water (mean: 10.8 mg O2 L?1 and 6.2 mg NO3 ?-N L?1, respectively). Removal of the embankments has reduced the channel capacity by an average of 60%. This has facilitated over-bank flow which is likely to favour conditions for improved flood storage and removal of river nutrients by floodplain sediments. Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor K. Heal Citation Clilverd, H.M., Thompson, J.R., Heppell, C.M., Sayer, C.D., and Axmacher, J.C., 2013. River–floodplain hydrology of an embanked lowland Chalk river and initial response to embankment removal. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (3), 627–650. 相似文献
9.
对一维剪切条计算模型进行改进,提出了土石坝非线性地震反应的简化计算方法。首先将坝体沿坝高离散为一系列的具有不同剪切刚度与阻尼比等参数特性的层状体系,建立了各层的振动控制方程及其边值条件,进而采用数学物理方程方法进行了求解,确定了体系的振动特性,并根据振型叠加原理和Duhamel积分确定了坝体地震反应的线弹性解。采用等价线性化方法考虑坝料的动力非线性性质,通过对线弹性地震响应的反复迭代计算,使得各层土的模量和阻尼比与其相应的剪应变水平相协调,确定出与非线性坝体系统相等效的线性解答,并将所得到的地震响应作为非线性地震响应的近似解。最后,以均质坝和心墙坝作为算例进行了具体的数值计算,将所得结果与有限元数值解进行对比分析,论证了所提方法的适用性和合理性。 相似文献
10.
Results are presented of an investigation, the objective of which was to determine the relationship between the stiffness variability of the bearings of an isolation system and the response variability of the structure. The system is modeled as a rigid, rectangular structure that is free to translate and rotate. The isolation system consists of N isolation bearings arranged in a rectangular pattern, each with a stiffness ki that is an independent, normally distributed, random variable. Response spectrum analysis is used to obtain the analytical solution for the structure response. Approximate closed‐form expressions are obtained for the variance of the centreline displacement, rotation, corner displacement and base shear, that are in terms of the variability of the isolator stiffness, aspect ratio of the structure, and the number and layout of isolation bearings. Results show that the standard deviation of the centreline displacement and base shear decrease with increasing number of isolation bearings, and are independent of the aspect ratio and layout of isolators, and in all cases are less than 1/4 the standard deviation of the isolator stiffness. The standard deviation of the corner displacement is a function of all of the system parameters, and is bounded below by the standard deviation of the centreline displacement and above by the standard deviation of a bar aligned perpendicular to the direction of ground motion with m isolation bearings distributed along the length. The approximate expressions are shown to be in good agreement with the results of Monte Carlo simulations. The results should be of use to designers of isolated structures and manufacturers of isolation systems, in assessing the significance of stiffness variability on the response of the isolated structure. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
11.
Site response analysis with two‐dimensional numerical discontinuous deformation analysis method 下载免费PDF全文
下载免费PDF全文 The capability of the numerical discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) method to perform site response analysis is tested. We begin with modeling one‐dimensional shear wave propagation through a stack of horizontal layers and compare the obtained resonance frequency and amplification with results obtained with SHAKE. We use the algorithmic damping in DDA to condition the damping ratio in DDA by changing the time step size and use the same damping ratio in SHAKE to enable meaningful comparisons. We obtain a good agreement between DDA and SHAKE, even though DDA is used with first order approximation and with simply deformable blocks, proving that the original DDA formulation is suitable for modeling one‐dimensional wave propagation problems. The ability of DDA to simulate wave propagation through structures is tested by comparing the resonance frequency obtained for a multidrum column when modeling it with DDA and testing it in the field using geophysical site response survey. When the numerical control parameters are properly selected, we obtain a reasonable agreement between DDA and the site response experiment in the field. We find that the choice of the contact spring stiffness, or the numerical penalty parameter, is directly related to the obtained resonance frequency in DDA. The best agreement with the field experiment is obtained with a relatively soft contact spring stiffness of k = (1/25)(E × L) where E and L are the Young's modulus and mean diameter of the drums in the tested column. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
12.
Interaction of bridge structures with the adjacent embankment fills and pile foundations is generally responsible for response modification of the system to strong ground excitations, to a degree that depends on soil compliance, support conditions, and soil mass mobilized in dynamic response. This paper presents a general modeling and assessment procedure specifically targeted for simulation of the dynamic response of short bridges such as highway overcrossings, where the embankment soil–structure interaction is the most prevalent. From previous studies it has been shown that in this type of interaction, seismic displacement demands are magnified in the critical bridge components such as the central piers. This issue is of particular relevance not only in new design but also in the assessment of the existing infrastructure. Among a wide range of issues relevant to soil–structure interaction, typical highway overcrossings that have flexible abutments supported on earth embankments were investigated extensively in the paper. Simulation procedures are proposed for consideration of bridge‐embankment interaction effects in practical analysis of these structures for estimation of their seismic performance. Results are extrapolated after extensive parametric studies and are used to extract ready‐to‐use, general, and parameterized capacity curves for a wide range of possible material properties and geometric characteristics of the bridge‐embankment assembly. Using two instrumented highway overpasses as benchmark examples, the capacity curves estimated using the proposed practical procedures are correlated successfully with the results of explicit incremental dynamic analysis, verifying the applicability of the simple tools developed herein, in seismic assessment of existing short bridges. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
13.
Omri Shitrit Yossef H. Hatzor Shimon Feinstein Vyacheslav Palchik Harold J. Vinegar 《Geophysical Prospecting》2019,67(3):624-650
The elastic moduli and anisotropy of organic-rich rocks are of great importance to geoengineering and geoprospecting of oil and gas reservoirs. In this paper, we probe into the static and dynamic moduli of the Ghareb–Mishash chalk through laboratory measurements and new analytical approaches. We define a new anisotropy parameter, ‘hydrostatic strain ratio’ (Ω), which describes the differential contraction of anisotropic rocks consequent to hydrostatic compression. Ω depends on the C11, C12, C13 and C33 stiffness constants of a transversely isotropic material, and therefore enables a unique insight into the anisotropic behaviour of TI rocks. Ω proves more sensitive to anisotropy within the weak anisotropy range, when compared with Thomsen's ε and γ parameters. We use Ω to derive static moduli from triaxial compression tests performed on a single specimen. This is done by novel employment of a hydrostatic-deviatoric combination for transversely isotropic elastic stiffnesses. Dynamic moduli are obtained from acoustic velocities measurements. We find that the bedding-normal velocities are described well by defining kerogen as the load-supporting matrix in a Hashin–Shtrikman model (‘Hashin–Shtrikman (HS) kerogen’). The dynamic moduli of the Ghareb–Mishash chalk in dry conditions are significantly higher than the static moduli. The dynamic/static moduli ratio decreases from ∼4 to ∼2 with increasing kerogen content. Both the static and dynamic moduli decrease significantly with increasing porosity and kerogen content. The effect of porosity on them is two times stronger than the effect of kerogen. 相似文献
14.
In order to investigate the response of structures to near‐fault seismic excitations, the ground motion input should be properly characterized and parameterized in terms of simple, yet accurate and reliable, mathematical models whose input parameters have a clear physical interpretation and scale, to the extent possible, with earthquake magnitude. Such a mathematical model for the representation of the coherent (long‐period) ground motion components has been proposed by the authors in a previous study and is being exploited in this article for the investigation of the elastic and inelastic response of the single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) system to near‐fault seismic excitations. A parametric analysis of the dynamic response of the SDOF system as a function of the input parameters of the mathematical model is performed to gain insight regarding the near‐fault ground motion characteristics that significantly affect the elastic and inelastic structural performance. A parameter of the mathematical representation of near‐fault motions, referred to as ‘pulse duration’ (TP), emerges as a key parameter of the problem under investigation. Specifically, TP is employed to normalize the elastic and inelastic response spectra of actual near‐fault strong ground motion records. Such normalization makes feasible the specification of design spectra and reduction factors appropriate for near‐fault ground motions. The ‘pulse duration’ (TP) is related to an important parameter of the rupture process referred to as ‘rise time’ (τ) which is controlled by the dimension of the sub‐events that compose the mainshock. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
15.
This paper presents a response spectrum analysis procedure for the calculation of the maximum structural response to three translational seismic components that may act at any inclination relative to the reference axes of the structure. The formula GCQC3, a generalization of the known CQC3‐rule, incorporates the correlation between the seismic components along the axes of the structure and the intensity disparities between them. Contrary to the CQC3‐rule where a principal seismic component must be vertical, in the GCQC3‐rule all components can have any direction. Besides, the GCQC3‐rule is applicable if we impose restrictions to the maximum inclination and/or intensity of a principal seismic component; in this case two components may be quasi‐horizontal and the third may be quasi‐vertical. This paper demonstrates that the critical responses of the structure, defined as the maximum and minimum responses considering all possible directions of incidence of one seismic component, are given by the square root of the maximum and minimum eigenvalues of the response matrix R , of order 3×3, defined in this paper; the elements of R are established on the basis of the modal responses used in the well‐known CQC‐rule. The critical responses to the three principal seismic components with arbitrary directions in space are easily calculated by combining the eigenvalues of R and the intensities of those components. The ratio rmax/rSRSS between the maximum response and the SRSS response, the latter being the most unfavourable response to the principal seismic components acting along the axes of the structure, is bounded between 1 and √(3γa2/(γa2 + γb2 + γc2)), where γa?γb?γc are the relative intensities of the three seismic components with identical spectral shape. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
16.
Determination of critical shear stress of non‐cohesive soils using submerged jet test and turbulent kinetic energy 下载免费PDF全文
下载免费PDF全文 Laboratory tests using Jet Erosion Testing (JET) apparatus, impinging normally on a horizontal boundary, were conducted to determine the critical shear stress (τc) of non‐cohesive soil samples. A three‐dimensional (3D) SonTek/YSI 16 MHz Micro‐Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (MicroADV) was used to measure turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) at a radial limit of entrainment in the wall jet zone and the measurements were used to calculate τc of the samples. The results showed that TKE increases exponentially with increasing particle size. The τc from this study were comparable (R2 = 0.8) to the theoretical τc from Shields diagram after bed roughness scale ratio (D/ks), due to the non‐uniform bed conditions, was accounted for. This study demonstrated that JET and TKE can be used to determine τc of non‐cohesive soils. The use of JET and TKE was found to be faster and easier when compared to the conventional approach of using flumes. A relationship of TKE at the onset of incipient motion (TKEc) and samples’ D50 developed in this study can be used to predict τc of non‐cohesive soils under similar non‐uniform conditions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
17.
M. D. Trifunac S. S. Ivanov M. I. Todorovska E. I. Novikova A. A. Gladkov 《Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering》1999,18(3):375
This article explores the possibility to measure deformations of building foundations from measurements of ambient noise and strong motion recordings. The case under study is a seven-storey hotel building in Van Nuys, California. It has been instrumented by strong motion accelerographs, and has recorded several earthquakes, including the 1971 San Fernando (ML=6.6, R=22 km), 1987 Whittier–Narrows (ML=5.9, R=41 km), 1992 Landers (ML=7.5, R=186 km), 1992 Big Bear (ML=6.5, R=149 km), and 1994 Northridge (ML=6.4, R=1.5 km) earthquake and its aftershocks (20 March: ML=5.2, R=1.2 km; 6 December, 1994: ML=4.3, R=11 km). It suffered minor structural damage in 1971 earthquake and extensive damage in 1994. Two detailed ambient vibration tests were performed following the Northridge earthquake, one before and the other one after the 20 March aftershock. These included measurements at a grid of points on the ground floor and in the parking lot surrounding the building, presented and analyzed in this article. The analysis shows that the foundation system, consisting of grade beams on friction piles, does not act as a “rigid body” but deforms during the passage of microtremor and therefore earthquake waves. For this geometrically and by design essentially symmetric building, the center of stiffness of the foundation system appears to have large eccentricity (this is seen both from the microtremor measurements and from the earthquake recordings). This eccentricity may have contributed to strong coupling of transverse and torsional responses, and to larger than expected torsional response, contributing to damage during the 1994 Northridge, earthquake. 相似文献
18.
《地震工程与结构动力学》2018,47(6):1522-1543
A rational approach is presented for minimizing the dynamic response of reinforced concrete framed structures forced by a seismic base acceleration. Reference is made to EC8 regulations, but the presented approach may in principle be applied to structures ruled by any regulation code. Governing equations are set in the frequency domain (and not in the periods domain as usual) so as to enable the adoption of sound approaches for analysis and design of dynamic structures that are typical of automatics. Among these, a novel usage of the H∞‐norm concept is proposed that determines a rational design approach capable to minimize the structural response with reference to any quantity of engineering interest, eg, the overall compliance and the displacement of a specific point or the interstorey drift. A numerical investigation on a 6‐storey 3‐bay frame is performed, and relevant analysis and design results are presented in much detail to validate the theoretical framework. 相似文献
19.
A self‐consistent model which describes transverse dune migration in equilibrium is introduced. It shows that an equilibrium expression for dune migration speed (c d) must take into account sand trapping efficiency (T E), and that T E is strongly related to the wind speedup over the windward surface. An expression for sand trapping efficiency (T E) is analytically derived from a microscale analysis of sand grain deposition on the slip face. Sand trapping efficiency (T E) is mainly determined by shear velocity on a level surface (u*(−∞)), and rapidly decreases as u*(−∞) increases. For each dune height (H), dune migration speed (c d) first increases, and then decreases monotonically after reaching the maximum, as the shear velocity on a level surface (u*(−∞)) increases. Dune migration speed (c d) is not inversely proportional to dune height (H). For low dunes, small sand trapping efficiency (T E) suppresses c d, whereas for high dunes, wind speedup and large T E resist the decrease of c d. Some field data show the same tendency. The dune‐to‐plane‐bed transition observed in subaqueous and venusian bedforms could be associated with the decrease of sand trapping efficiency (T E). Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
20.
The results of experimental tests carried out on reinforced concrete (RC) full‐scale 2‐storey 2‐bays framed buildings are presented. The unretrofitted frame was designed for gravity loads only and without seismic details; such frame was assumed as a benchmark system in this study. A similar RC frame was retrofitted with buckling‐restrained braces (BRBs). The earthquake structural performance of both prototypes was investigated experimentally using displacement‐controlled pushover static and cyclic lateral loads. Modal response properties of the prototypes were also determined before and after the occurrence of structural damage. The results of the dynamic response analyses were utilized to assess the existing design rules for the estimation of the elastic and inelastic period of vibrations. Similarly, the values of equivalent damping were compared with code‐base relationships. It was found that the existing formulations need major revisions when they are used to predict the structural response of as‐built RC framed buildings. The equivalent damping ratio ξeq was augmented by more than 50% when the BRBs was employed as bracing system. For the retrofitted frame, the overstrength Ω and the ductility µ are 1.6 and 4.1, respectively; the estimated R‐factor is 6.5. The use of BRBs is thus a viable means to enhance efficiently the lateral stiffness and strength, the energy absorption and dissipation capacity of the existing RC substandard frame buildings. The foundation systems and the existing members of the superstructure are generally not overstressed as the seismic demand imposed on them can be controlled by the axial stiffness and the yielding force of the BRBs. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献