Evaluation of Stiff Stories for Robustness in Steel Buildings

摘要

This paper describes the evaluation of several steel building configurations for robustness. The buildings studied were inspired from two prototype buildings which employed "stiff-story" trusses to transfer loads due to multi-bay spans and cantilevers. The UFC 4-023-03 guidelines were followed to perform an elastic alternate path analysis and to evaluate various framing configurations for robustness. Indices were then developed to help identify, on a preliminary basis, which configurations are more robust. These indices, named the support factor and the bracing factor, provide a simple measurement of robustness and efficiency in the framing system of the building. Results from the study show that stiff stories integrated with the lateral force resisting system can be very effective in increasing robustness.