Abstract
Performance-based earthquake engineering aims to describe the seismic performance of a structure using metrics that are of immediate use to both engineers and stakeholders. A rigorous yet practical implementation of performance-based earthquake engineering methodology is used to compare the seismic performance of two steel, concentrically braced structural systems, an inverted-V-braced frame and a suspended zipper-braced frame. The principal difference between these two structural systems is the design approach used to transfer the unbalanced forces when the braces buckle. A probabilistic seismic performance comparison for a three-story office building located in Berkeley, California designed using these two structural systems is presented. The results indicate the suspended zipper-braced frame has lower expected repair cost under different levels of earthquake hazards and is 25% lighter than the corresponding capacity-designed inverted-V-braced frame.
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