Steel Structures Education Foundation

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SSEF Research Grant Recipient

Tony T.Y. Yang
Assistant Professor

University of British Columbia
Department of Civil Engineering

2011 2010

2011

Development of Innovative Steel Structural Systems for Seismic Applications in Canada
Resilient design of structures has become the new approach of designing new structural systems in the United States and Japan. The design approach focuses on minimizing the cost of the structure in both initial construction and lifetime maintenance cost of the facility. To achieve this higher performance objective, an innovative steel structural system, the steel Link Column Frame system, is proposed. The steel Link Column Frame system utilizes the concept of conventional steel moment resisting frame with added steel shear link beams to dissipate earthquake energy. This way, the advantages of steel moment resisting frame (without diagonal bracing) are retained and the lateral stiffness is improved by including steel shear link beams. The figure above shows a conceptual configuration of the steel Link Column Frame system.

This project involves the development and analytical evaluation of the steel Link Column Frame using finite element analysis. The cost benefit factor of adding the additional steel link columns and beams will also be investigated. Experimental tests, conducted elsewhere, will be used to validate the analytical models. The research will lead to the development of simplified design procedures.

 

Years: 2010, 2011

Biography
Dr. Tony Yang
received his B.Sc. (2001) and M.Sc. (2002) from the University at Buffalo, New York, and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2006. His research focus on improving the structural performance through advanced analytical simulation and experimental testing. He has developed the next-generation performance-based design guidelines (adopted by the Applied Technology Council, the ATC-58 research team) in the United States; developed advanced experimental testing technologies, such as hybrid simulation and nonlinear control of shake table, to evaluate structural response under extreme loading conditions; developed risk-based simulation models for countries in the North and South America and the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) for the counties in the South East Asia. Dr. Yang has been actively involved in using novel technologies, such as base isolation systems and dampers, to improve structural performance. He has working with leading structural engineering firms to peer-reviewed landmark buildings, including the tallest steel plate shear wall structure in the world. Dr. Yang is an active member of the Tall Buildings Initiative Project, funded by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, to develop seismic design guidelines for tall buildings. Dr. Yang co-developed 'OpenSees Navigator', a software program widely used by design engineers and researchers to design and analyze complex structural systems. He has also developed ‘PBEE’, a software program to quantify facility loss under extreme events.

Link: Professor Yang