Architecture Commons^™

Hyperelastic Structural Fuses For Improved Earthquake Resilience Of Steel Concentrically-Braced Buildings, Francys López-Mosquera

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Improving structural resilience (i.e., reducing service interruptions and improving rapidity of function restoration) following extreme events is one of the primary contemporary challenges in structural engineering. While massive casualties have successfully been avoided through the adoption of modern building codes, the sole codified performance objective has been limited to the life safety/collapse prevention range of response. Christchurch, NZ, highlighted the insufficiency of this approach, with large sections of the city nonfunctional after a major earthquake, and with subsequent collapses induced by significant aftershocks. Engineering advances to improve building and community resilience are necessary to mitigate hazards from becoming disasters. This …