Seismic Performance Evaluation for Steel-Frame-Structure Considering Member Fracture

Through the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake or the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, much larger earthquakes are considered recently in the seismic designs of large steel-frame structures. When structures are exposed by these severe ground motions, partial destructions in the structures, such as damage or fracture of members could happen. Especially, the low cycle fatigue of steel structures because of the repeated load from these long-term ground motions is a serious problem. However, current seismic performance evaluation method based on nonlinear dynamic analysis considers only elastic and plastic deformation of each member, excluding the fracture of members. If this member fracture happens during earthquakes, there is considered to be many effects on the seismic performance, like the changes of the vibration property, the dynamic response and the energy absorbance capacity of structures. Therefore, the fracture of members is preferably taken into account in the seismic performance evaluation for these large earthquakes. This paper proposes the dynamic analysis method for steel-frame structures which can express the member fracture. Dynamic analyses considering and not considering member fracture under the repeated loads supposing the long-term earthquake are conducted to the FEM model of full-scale structure. By comparing each result, the effects of considering member fracture to the seismic performance such as the dynamic response and the energy absorbance capacity are discussed.