Category Archives: Projects
Buckling Restrained Brace Subassemblage Testing
Our research group teamed up with Bluescope to test an innovative all-steel buckling restrained brace that they developed. A subassemblage test setup was used to show that the new brace satisfies the qualification criteria in the AISC Seismic Provisions. Click … Continue reading
Testing of Steel Crates
Our group has done multiple projects with industry collaborators to investigate the behavior of steel crates. Steel crates are used for storing and shipping a variety of products. The stability of these steel crates during transport, handling, and storage is … Continue reading
Development of a Spectral Matching Algorithm
Time domain spectral matching of an earthquake ground motion consists of iteratively adding sets of wavelets to an acceleration history until the resulting response spectrum sufficiently matches a target spectrum. The spectral matching procedure is at its core a nonlinear … Continue reading
End-Plate Moment Connections
Our research group has done a substantial amount of testing and analysis of end-plate moment connections, much of which has been done in collaboration with Thomas M. Murray. AISC Design Guide 39 will be published in 2023 authored by M.R. … Continue reading
Self-Centering Beams for Resilient Earthquake Resistance
A self-contained self-centering beam (SCB) has been developed that provides self-centering seismic behavior with enhanced constructability (Darling 2012). The SCB consists of a beam with concentric tubes connected to the bottom flange. The tubes at the bottom flange are precompressed … Continue reading
Ring-Shaped Steel Plate Shear Walls
The ring-shaped steel plate shear wall (RS-SPSW) builds on the advantages of conventional solid steel plate shear walls, but has improved seismic performance, reduced demands on boundary elements, and allows simple shear beam-to-column connections. The RS-SPSW consists of a SPSW … Continue reading
Super High Tension Bolts
Super high tension bolts (designated as XTB) were developed in Japan and are currently being used in construction in Japan. The minimum specified tensile strength is 200 ksi as compared to 150 ksi for ASTM A490 Bolts. There is a … Continue reading
Effect of Fasteners and Defects in the Protected Zone on the Performance of Moment Frames
This research is investigating the effect of fasteners and defects applied in the protected zone on the ductility, low cycle fatigue performance, and inelastic rotation capacity of steel beam-to-column moment frame connections. Special moment resisting frames (SMRF) depend on large … Continue reading
Controlled Rocking of Steel Braced Frames with Replaceable Energy Dissipating Fuses
Current U.S. building codes and earthquake engineering practice utilize inelasticity in the seismic force resisting system to dissipate seismic energy and protect against collapse. Inelasticity in conventional structures can lead to structural damage distributed throughout the building and permanent drifts … Continue reading
Development of a Self-Centering Buckling Restrained Brace
The project led by Larry Fahnestock at the University of Illinois, involves the investigation of the the seismic behavior and performance of self-centering buckling-restrained braces (SC-BRBs). A SC-BRB consists of a typical BRB component, which provides energy dissipation, and pre-tensioned … Continue reading
