| Abstract: | A new structural system for earthquake resistant steel structures is investigated in this paper. This new framing system, called the knee-brace-frame (KBF), is a braced frame with diagonal braces connected to ductile knee members. The diagonal braces provide the lateral stiffness, whereas the knee anchors yield in flexure to dissipate energy during severe seismic excitation. To assess the inelastic characteristics of the KBF, a large scale model of a KBF was tested using the pseudodynamic test procedure. The experimental results are compared with analytical results obtained from a DRAIN-2D model. It is found that, with an appropriate design of knee anchors, the KBF can be made to be ductile to dissipate energy during severe seismic excitation. |
