Development and Application of an Analytical Model for LYP Steel Shear Links in Eccentrically Braced Frames

Eccentrically Braced Frames (EBFs) equipped with steel shear links primarily sustain large deformation demands through inelastic actions in the links, including yielding, bucking, and fracture of the steel plates or weld parts. This failure mode becomes more complex and results in highly nonlinear behavior using Low-Yield-Point (LYP) steels for the construction of the links due to their high strain hardening capacities. The existing analytical models have been presented for links made of normal steel grades, and thus there is a substantial research need for developing an analytical model to capture the actual behavior of links made of LYP steels. To fill this gap, this paper developed both shear-hinge and shear-spring-based models for performance-based evaluation of EBFs equipped with LYP steel shear links, which are more practical models in general-purpose structural analysis programs. The accuracy of the proposed model was assessed by comparing it with existing experimental tests and analytical models. As a result, there is good agreement between the proposed model and test results in terms of initial stiffness, post-yielding stiffness, and strength, which shows significant improvement over existing analytical models.