On Design of Eccentrically Braced Frames

Seismic-resistant Eccentrically Braced Frames (EBFs) are becoming a widely used lateral resisting system for steel buildings, with even wider application anticipated as design requirements are put into building code format. This paper addresses a number of EBF design issues, which in the opinion of the authors are inadequately considered either in current practice or in the emerging code provisions. The overall design philosophy for EBFs is reviewed, with specific reference to the concept of “Capacity Design”. Application of capacity design principles assures that yielding will be restricted primarily to the ductile link elements, an important goal of EBF design. Further, through careful choice of frame geometry and link length at the preliminary stages, many potential design difficulties can be avoided. The paper also presents some important observations from experimental work currently underway on EBFs with long, flexural yielding links.