SEISMIC IMPACT LOADING IN INELASTIC TENSION‐ONLY CONCENTRICALLY BRACED STEEL FRAMES: MYTH OR REALITY?

Tension‐Only Concentrically Braced Frames (TOCBF) exhibit deteriorating pinched hysteretic behaviour during strong earthquakes. Slender braces transit between an elastic buckling state, a restraightening state, in which they carry almost no load, an elastic tensile loading state as they are suddenly taut and, finally, a tensile yielding state. It has long been suspected that the sudden increase in tensile forces in the braces of TOCBSF creates …