Vol.

4, Special Issue, 694-698 (2012)

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ns.2012.428091

Natural Science

Seismic response of high-rise steel framed buildings

with Chevron-braced designed according to
Venezuelan codes
Ronald Ugel1*, Juan Carlos Vielma1, Reyes Herrera1, Sigrit Prez1, Alex Barbat2
1

Structural Engineering Department, School of Civil Engineering, Lisandro Alvarado University, Barquisimeto, Venezuela;
Corresponding Author: [email protected], [email protected]
2
Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
*

Received 31 May 2012; revised 28 June 2012; accepted 12 July 2012

ABSTRACT
The object of this study is to determine the
seismic response of regular high-rise steel buildings with Chevron-braced frames. Mechanics
models of three buildings of 14, 18 and 20 stories are studied, all of them with similar geometric characteristics in plan and elevation. These
models are realized using prescriptions and
parameters from Venezuelan design codes. The
seismic action is carried out through varius synthetic design spectrum compatible accelerograms
defined by the seismic codes in this study, with
three levels of intensity corresponding to three
specific Limit States. Dynamic analysis is used
to compute parameters of ductility, over strength
and maximum displacements. From these results it can be concluded that Chevron-braced
frames presented a good overall performance
and non V-braced frames show greater damage
due to dynamic actions, validating non linear
dynamic analysis as a very powerful tool to
seismic-resistance design and Chevron-braced
frames as a very useful choice for improving the
response of tall steel structures. Since this lateral bracing system is absent from Venezuelan
seismic codes.
Keywords: Framed Steel Buildings; Chevron
Braced Frames; Non Linear Analysis; Over Strength;
Seismic Response

1. INTRODUCTION
At present, near of 80% of Venezuela people live in
zones of high seismic hazard, Alonso [1]. Permanent
studies on the behavior of structures before seismic
events and the earthquake resistant design new buildings
have lead to progressive improvement of the codes. For
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that its necessary to know as much as possible the

probable behavior of structures under strong earthquakes,
considering local and global conditions that may influence in the global behavior.
In framed steel structures it is very common the use of
Chevron-braced frames as structural elements to provide
additional stiffness, therefore reducing lateral displacements, Longo, Montuori and Piluso [2], but this system
is under continued investigations to know its more efficient use and for codes optimization. Venezuelan norms
[3-5] specify the minimum requirements for the design
of steel structures and resistant earthquake design of
buildings, but leave to the designer the election of the
analysis method that adapts more to the characteristics of
the structure.
Searching for a suitable configuration, the designer
has the option to use methods or mathematical models
able to reproduce the most realistic behavior of a structure before an earthquake, which is particularly important when structures are beyond the elastic range, Song
and Ellingswood [6]. This detailed knowledge of the
nonlinear response (constitutive and geometric) is necessary since the elastic analysis does not provide the
necessary information for the determination of this behavior, Vielma, Barbat and Oller, [7]. By means of the
nonlinear analysis it is possible to know the seismic behavior of structures under lateral forces generated by
strong seismic events.
To describe in suitable form the behavior of the structural system throughout all the deformations range, it is
necessary to adopt a structural idealization that includes
the nonlinear behavior at constitutive and geometric level
that vary with the deformation level reached, Dolsek [8];
the incorporation of synthetic elastic design spectrum
compatible accelerograms based on seismic events previously registered, allows to know the displacements that
the building can reach and to determine the collapse
point, thus providing parameters that allow to evaluate
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accurately the design of the analyzed structure and to

propose improvements in the earthquake resistant design
of structures.

2. DESIGN OF CASES STUDIED

In order to carry on the nonlinear analysis of the seismic response in the studied structures, the mathematical
model was determined to represent: 1) the structures; 2)
the estimated loads and combinations applied on the
structure; and 3) nonlinear pseudo static and dynamic
analysis of the mechanical model of these structures. All
the mathematical models have the same regular structural
configuration in plant as in elevation, with concentric
diagonals type V inverted in the outer frames in directions X and Y. Inter stories and roof slabs have secondary
and bracing beams in Y direction and the load beams are
placed in X direction (see Figure 1).
The X direction is composed of 3 spans of 6.00 m each;
Y direction is made up of 3 spans of 5.00 m each, the
elevation of the first story is 4.50 m and the rest of the
stories have 3.00 m of elevation. Outer frames are Vbraced in external spans and inner frames have no bracing (see Figure 2). The three models differ only in the
number of stories. The analysis performed in models and
proposed structures includes the determination of a specific sectional area for each element of the structure.

2.1. Non Linear Analysis

The structure is modeled by incorporating the structural response when it incurred in the inelastic range of
material produced by high deformations caused by accidental excitations (earthquakes), Vielma, Barbat and
Oller, [9]. In non-linear dynamic analysis, input earthquakes are usually modeled using a time-history function,
which implies a step-by-step evaluation of the response
of the building. In this study, the inelastic analysis was
carried out using the software Zeus NL, Elnashai, Papanicolau and Lee, [10]. Because of the symmetry and
regularity of the proposed structures, two-dimensional

Figure 1. Typical plant of studied buildings.

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(a)

(b)

Figure 2. Elevation of 14 stories model. (a) Outer frames; (b)

Inner frames.

analysis could be performed in four typical frames for

each building (V-braced frame and non V-braced frame,
both in the X direction and in the Y direction). Frames
geometry was defined considering the material and the
sections corresponding to each structural member. Every
member was splitted in four elements according to the
discretization that must be performed for the elements to
determine those where the damage is concentrated during
seismic action. Then, nodes are loaded by adding gravity
forces obtained from elastic analysis. This analysis implies the realization of Pushover analysis, the determination of the structural ductility and the reserve of resistance.

2.2. Dynamic Analysis

Structures studied were subjected to three types of
earthquakes of different magnitudes each one. Table 1
specifies the characteristics of the earthquakes that were
used on the structures.
In the procedure, the accelerograms were introduced to
each frame of the structures, then the results were used to
compute the inter story drifts and global drifts as a function of time (t). There were simulated three (3) synthetic
accelerograms generated with the program PACED,
UCLA-CIMNE [11], from the elastic spectrum corresponding to the emplacement site design of the building
stiff soil and differentiated one to another by their intensity and return period.
A frequent earthquake structure response allows to
verify the Serviceability Limit State (SLS) through the
inter story drifts. The pattern of comparison is governed
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R. Ugel et al. / Natural Science 4 (2012) 694-698

by the requirements recommended by Di Sarno and Elnashai [12] which stipulate that these drifts should be
under 0.5%. With the Rare earthquake, the Reparable
damage Limit State (RDLS) is verified in function of
inter story drifts which must not exceed 1.5% according
to the same recommendations. For the Very Rare earthquake, the evaluation verify the Prevention of Collapse
Limit State (PCLS), where the inter story drifts must be
less than 3% to meet this requirement.

frames of the buildings, the interstory drift exceed the

maximum limit value of 0.5% considered in this study
for the action of a frequent earthquake (50% in 50 years).
Otherwise occurred to the rare earthquake (10% in 50
years) and very rare earthquake (2% in 50 years), where
the limit of 1.5% and 3% values were not exceeded. The
global drifts curves in function of time obtained for the
frames are shown in Figures 4-6.
Percentage displacement versus time for each considered earthquake was generated for interstory drifts. Only

3. RESULTS ANALYSIS

3000

2400

Base shear (KN)

The applied analysis provided the following results:

For each frame is plotted 1) the capacity curve representing the values of base shear versus roof displacement.
From this curve it is obtained the over strength; 2) the
idealized capacity curve represented by the base shear in
function of displacement, obtaining the ductility and
identifying the yielding point. These standardized curves
shows that V-braced frames require greater lateral forces
towards the ultimate point, presenting a difference of
60% between V-braced and non V-braced frames. Table
2 presents the values of ductility and over strength from
the idealized and real curves in the 14 story building.
Figure 3 presents an idealized 14 story building capacity
curve. From over strength, ductility and considering factors associated with structural redundancy it was obtained a response reduction factor (R) exceeding the
value R = 6 considered in the design.

Max. = 2715.37 KN at x = 1.18 m

1800

1200
Real curve
Idealized curve

600

0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

1.4

1.6

Displacement ( meters)

1.8

2. 2

Figure 3. Idealized and real capacity curves. Frames A = D. 14

story model.

Dynamic Analysis
The global drift gives an approximate idea of damage
level and structural behavior before a seismic event. For
each earthquake it was obtained global drifts for each
one of the frames. The 80 seconds in duration earthquake
was the most severe on maximum drift. In almost all
Table 1. Utilized earthquakes description.
Analysed
earthquake

Limit State

Return period
(years)

Duration
(seconds)

Frequent

Serviceability

95

60

Rare

Reparable damage

475

80

Very rare

Prevention of Collapse

2475

100

Figure 4. 14 stories building. Frames A = D. 60 seconds earthquake.

Table 2. Over strength and ductility for 14 story model.

Frame

Over strength () = Vu/Vb

Ductility () = u/y

A=D

4.99

3.06

B=C

3.47

2.54

1=4

3.64

3.74

2=3

2.71

5.02

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Figure 5. 14 stories building. Frames A = D. 80 seconds earthquake.

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the 2 = 3 non V-braced frames presented higher values

than 1.5% for the rare earthquake and 3% for the very
rare earthquake, indicating a possible collapse in the
structure. This implied a redesign of those frames, gradually increasing all columns, until obtained drifts lower
than maximum allowed. Graphics for inter story drifts
for the frames of the 14-story building, acting the earthquake of 60 seconds are presented in Figures 7-9.

4. CONCLUSIONS
From the capacity curves it can be concluded that Vbraced spans in the outer frames allows to increase the
capacity of the structure to withstand lateral loads before
the collapse. By finding a response reduction factor (R)

Figure 6. 14 stories building. Frames A = D. 100 seconds earthquake.

Figure 7. 14 stories building. Frames A = D. Frequent earthquake. Duration: 60 seconds.

Figure 8. 14 stories building. Frames A = D. Rare earthquake.

Duration: 60 seconds.
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Figure 9. 14 stories building. Frames A = D. Very rare earthquake. Duration: 60 seconds.

exceeding the factor considered in the design, is concluded that these structures are reliable in their seismic
performance. It was noted that response reduction factors
are large while decreases the height of the building. It
was determined that as the height increases, the over decreases, indicating that low-rise structures have greater
capacity for lateral resistance after reaching the yielding
point.
The values of global drifts showed that structures may
have damage in the non-structural elements under frequent or rare earthquake and can show repairable damage in some structural elements under a very rare earthquake without reaching the collapse of the structure.
However, to compare these global drifts with the values
of inter story drifts, some frames were detected with differences with this trend; by that, damage could be present in certain structural elements until collapse of the
structure if not redesigning these frames. Its concluded
that it is not enough to verify the value of the global
drifts since small displacements on certain floors could
compensate for excessive displacements in others, getting global values below the maximum limit, but still
reaching the collapse of the structure. Drifts in the Vbraced frames were lower than in non V-braced frames,
concluding that the performance of the structure is improved when using diagonals concentric type inverted V
bracing. In addition, in the case of V-braced frames, the
largest drifts occurs at upper stories while in not Vbraced frames, drifts were higher in the lower levels. Its
possible to conclude that V-braced frames in high-rise
buildings improves the resistant capacity of the structure
for gravity and lateral loads, finding still better behavior
in low-rise buildings, which agrees with Bermdez [13].
Although the earthquake resistant buildings design
prescribed by Venezuelan code takes into account the
plastic range of the loads through the reduction R factor,
also allows the elastic analysis; on the other hand, steel
structures design code defines elastic-plastic Limits States
for structural members considering the plasticity of maOPEN ACCESS

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R. Ugel et al. / Natural Science 4 (2012) 694-698

terials. These possible incompatibilities between elastic

and plastic behavior in the same design considerations
can mean that obtained results in the elements are not
reliable enough. The LRFD method aims to obtain an
adequate structural behavior for every member of a structure, but this means that variables associated with the
structural system as a whole are not considered. Thus,
the code assumes that a structure will be effective as long
as all members are appropriate, but are not considered
factors as ductility, structural redundancy and configuration correlation among loads and combined structural resistance, Li and Li [14]. All this can result in a not realistic enough structural design with less accurate values of
behavior expected by the designer and the earthquake
resistant design code.
Findings of this study are applicable to a specific type
of building, so the study of other configurations is important to calibrate the results with the buildings studied
here. It is advisable the study of mechanical models that
could cover other combinations of types, numbers of
stories spans lengths, height of columns and seismic
hazard levels. Results show that seismic loads are supported largely by the lateral bracing, so it can be very
appropriate to investigate the mechanism and extent of
load transfers to other structural elements under an event
that could cause lateral bracing collapses. Overall, these
findings improve the knowledge about seismic and structural behavior of this type of structural typology, therefore validating non linear dynamic analysis as a very
powerful tool to seismic-resistance design and the use of
Chevron-braced frames as a very useful choice in improving the response of tall steel structures, considering
that this type of lateral bracing is currently absent from
the Venezuelan seismic codes.

REFERENCES
[1]

Longo, A., Montuori, R. and Piluso, V. (2009). Seismic

reliability of V-braced frames: Influence of design meth-

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odologies. Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 12, 12461266. doi:10.1080/13632460802211867

[2]

Alonso, J. (2007). Seismic vulnerability of buildings.

Fondo Editorial Sidetur, Caracas.

[3]

COVENIN (2001) Earthquake resistant design code 1756:01.

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[4]

COVENIN (1988) Minimum actions and criteria for buildings projects code 2002:88. Ministerio de Fomento, Caracas.

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COVENIN (1998) Steel structures for buildings. Limit

States method 1618:98. Ministerio de Fomento, Caracas.

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Song, J. and Ellingswood, B.R. (2009) Seismic reliability

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Vielma, J.C., Barbat, A.H. and Oller, S. (2009). Nonlinear

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