Seismic Design of Multi-story Buildings with Metallic Structural Fuses

Seismic design relies on inelastic deformations through hysteretic behavior. However, this translates into damage on structural elements, permanent system deformations following an earthquake, and possibly high cost for repairs. An alternative design approach is to concentrate damage on disposable and easy to repair structural elements (i.e., “structural fuses”), while the main structure is designed to remain elastic or with minor inelastic deformations. A systematic procedure is proposed in this paper to design buildings with metallic structural fuses. The proposed procedure has been illustrated as examples of application using Buckling-restrained braces working as metallic structural fuses.