Seismic Behaviour of EC8-Compliant Moment Resisting and Concentrically Braced Frames

Abstract

The design procedure codified within current Eurocode 8 for dissipative moment resisting and concentrically braced frames have led to the design of massive systems characterized in the most of cases by poor energy dissipation capacity. The research activity presented in the current paper addresses the identification of the main criticisms and fallacies in the current EN 1998-1 for those seismic-resistant typologies. In this regard, the design provisions and codified rules for both moment resisting frames (MRFs) and chevron concentrically braced frames (CCBFs) are critically discussed and numerically investigated. Static and incremental dynamic analyses were performed on a set of 3 and 6-story frames designed compliant to EN 1998-1. The results from the numerical analyses are reported and discussed.

Keywords

• Eurocode 8
• Moment resisting frames
• Concentrically braced frames
• Dissipative systems
• Seismic design
• Earthquake