Energy-Based Design Theory for Self-Centering Structures

Although conventional structures can be designed to avoid collapse under seismic actions, unrecoverable nonlinear deformations would still occur to dissipate earthquake energy. It enlarges structural damages and residual deformations, which leads to repair costs increased and downtime prolonged. Self-centering structures are introduced for the resilience demand in seismic engineering. Inelastic behaviors can be limited within specific areas, which would prevent key components from unrecoverable damages. This paper presents an energy-based design theory (EBDT) for self-centering structures. A damage model considering both residual deformation and hysteretic energy EH is proposed. Based on the design energy spectrum and the damage model, EH is introduced as a design parameter and accounted in the design procedure. EBDT enables designers to select multiple performance objectives for different seismic hazards. The design procedure is elaborated with an example. The results show that EBDT can provide a reliable design procedure for self-centering structures.