SimCenter | Numerical Simulation of Concentrically Braced Frames using OpenSees, October 10, 2017

SimCenter Series: EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER FORUM

ABSTRACT - Concentrically braced frames (CBFs) constitute a substantial proportion of existing steel building inventory in regions with high seismic risk in the US. Many of these CBFs were built prior to the codification of capacity-based and ductile design provisions, and CBFs built prior to about 1990 have been recognized as seismically vulnerable structures by the engineering community. While modeling approaches for special CBFs using OpenSees have been well established, these are not necessarily appropriate for existing and retrofitted CBFs, since recent experimental research has identified several distinct yielding and failure sequences for these systems. Nonlinear response-history analysis is required to understand the impacts of these complex behaviors on seismic performance, but adequate simulation necessitates new modeling approaches. This presentation discusses state-of-the-art CBF modeling approaches in OpenSees, and how this framework has been adapted at both the conceptual and software levels to meet emerging research needs. Workflows ranging from subassemblage test simulation to three and nine-story building response-history analyses are presented, including how MATLAB, OpenSees, and high-performance computing resources (including TACC) are leveraged to facilitate research.

PRESENTER -- Andrew Sen is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington. His research seeks to evaluate the seismic performance of pre-capacity-design concentrically braced frames and provide practical guidance for their seismic retrofit. He is advised by Profs. Charles Roeder, Dawn Lehman, and Jeffrey Berman. Andrew earned a BSCE from North Carolina State University in 2012 and MSCE from the University of Washington in 2014. He is the recipient of NSF Graduate Research and East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes Fellowships and is the president of the EERI University of Washington Student Chapter.