Lateral Load Behavior of Self-centering Frame with Y-Eccentrically Braced Substructure: An Experiment and Numerical Analysis

A novel self-centering frame with Y-eccentrically braced structure (SC-YEBFs) has been proposed in this paper to solve the problem that the storey drift of structure may exceed the specified limit in standards when self-centering beam-column joints are applied in high-rise and larger spans buildings, and the SC-YEBFs not only has the self-centering performance of self-centering frame system, but also has the high lateral stiffness and energy dissipating capacity of Y-Eccentrically braced frame. To study the lateral load behavior and influencing factors of SC-YEBFs, cyclic loading tests of two scaled specimens of SC-YEBFs substructure (SCS) were conducted, and seven finite element models corrected by the experiment were established to perform parametric analysis. The experiment and finite element analysis results indicated that the shear link has greatly increased the lateral stiffness and energy dissipating capacity of the self-centering structure, at the same time, it has maintained a good self-centering performance and replace ability. With an increase in the cross-sectional area and initial prestress of post-tensioned steel strands, the lateral load capacity and self-centering performance can be improved. The self-centering performance can be effectively improved by reducing the friction coefficient at the rotation connections. SC-YEBFs further extending the application field of self-centering structural systems, and making it possible to be applied to high-rise and larger spans structures.