Seismic performance assessment of stainless steel frames

The use of stainless steel for civil engineering structural applications provides possibilities for a more efficient balance between whole-life costs and in-service performance. To achieve a safe and economic design it is necessary to investigate the mechanical response of structural components, connections and the overall system, thus leading to suitable design provisions. This paper assesses the feasibility of the application of stainless steel in the seismic design of regular and irregular framed structures. Towards this aim, static and dynamic analyses have been carried out on a set of 50 moment resisting frames designed in accordance with the European codes of practice (EC3 and EC8). The seismic performance has been assessed in terms of global parameters, i.e. resistance (base shears, system overstrengths), deformation (interstorey drifts and translation ductilities),and energy absorption and redistribution capacity (behaviour factors). The performed analyses show that stainless steel is a viable alternative to carbon steel, provided that proper design choices are employed for the structural configuration and material distribution within the members of the adopted systems. The optimal amount of such metal alloy to enhance the energy absorption capacity is also established on the basis of numerical analyses. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.