Additive Manufacturing Techniques for Repairable Braced Frames

Special concentrically braced frames (SCBFs) have been used in lateral load-resisting systems over the last decades. SCBFs are designed to provide significant inelastic deformation capacity primarily through tensile yielding and compression buckling. Even though SCBFs satisfy design requirements for life safety, they sustain high levels of damage which results in economic losses due to the need for replacement. This paper proposes a new concept that focuses on concentrating the damage due to tensile yielding and inelastic buckling in a segment of the brace (fuse) while protecting the rest of the brace. This concept enables repairability after high-level seismic excitation by replacing the damaged fuse. The replaceable/recycled fuses are additively manufactured to achieve desired ductility through optimised geometry. The paper includes a description of numerical results from a small-scale specimen tested under cyclic protocol load.