Residual Drifts of Self-Centering Systems Including Effects of Ambient Building Resistance

There has been widespread interest in the development and use of self-centering (SC) lateral resisting systems that eliminate residual drifts after large earthquakes. SC systems often include a restoring force component and a component that dissipates seismic energy. Typically, it is assumed that the criterion for self-centering is satisfied if the restoring force is proportioned to be greater than the force required to yield the energy dissipating component. A parametric SDOF study was conducted using time-history analyses on several prototype buildings to quantify the effect of varying system parameters on structural response including residual drifts. The ambient resistance of the rest of the building was considered, as well as proportioning the system with less restoring force than the yield capacity of the dissipative component. In addition, the probabilistic mechanism that creates a propensity for reducing residual drifts in systems with little or no restoring force is explored and quantified. It was found that a restoring force that is at least one-half of the force required to yield the dissipative component will still reliably eliminate residual drifts in a non-softening system.