Effect of bracing configuration on the seismic response of buildings with re-entrant corners

It is very common to encounter structures having re-entrant corners. These types of structures are very prone to damage under earthquakes. Bracings placed in different configurations are used very commonly to enhance the performance of the structure under extreme loading. The aim of this study is the find out the most effective bracing configuration for concentrically braced steel framed structures having re-entrant corners. For this purpose, six different commonly encountered building configurations having re-entrant corners are used. For each of the six building configurations, four different three-dimensional models are created in ETABS with diagonal, chevron, V, and X bracing configurations. To understand the response of the modeled structures, linear dynamic analysis is performed for all 24 models with a set of thirteen ground motions. The result from the linear time history analysis is reported in the form of story displacement, inter-story drift ratios, story rotational and translational accelerations, column axial forces, base shear, and torsional irregularity ratios. The numerical results show that the X bracing configuration is effective in controlling story displacements and inter-story drift but the models with X bracing configuration have the highest base shear and column axial forces. The V bracing configuration is found to be effective in controlling the translational and rotational accelerations.