Seismic response and design of 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, 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. This design procedure for MDOF structures relies on results of a parametric study, considering the behavior of nonlinear SDOF systems subjected to synthetic ground motions. The proposed procedure has also been illustrated as examples of application using Buckling-restrained braces working as metallic structural fuses.