Energy-factor-based damage-control evaluation of steel MRF systems with fuses

The primary objectives of this research are to investigate the energy factor response of steel moment resisting frame (MRF) systems equipped with fuses subject to ground motions and to develop an energy-based evaluation approach for evaluating the damage-control behavior of the system. First, the energy factor of steel MRF systems with fuses below the resilience threshold is derived utilizing the energy balance equation considering bilinear oscillators with significant post-yielding stiffness ratio, and the effect of structural nonlinearity on the energy factor is investigated by conducting a parametric study covering a wide range of parameters. A practical transformation approach is also proposed to associate the energy factor of steel MRF systems with fuses with classic design spectra based on elasto-plastic systems. Then, the energy balance is extended to structural systems, and an energy-based procedure for damage-control evaluation is proposed and a damage-control index is also derived. The approach is then applied to two types of steel MRF systems with fuses to explore the applicability for quantifying the damagecontrol behavior. The rationality of the proposed approach and the accuracy for identifying the damage-control behavior are demonstrated by nonlinear static analyses and incremental dynamic analyses utilizing prototype structures.