Capacity design principles for the ductile behaviour of conventional and high-performance steel structures under earthquake shaking

Steel lateral load-resisting systems offer a variety of design solutions to ensure a ductile behaviour of a structure during a seismic event, thereby achieving a relatively low earthquake-induced collapse risk, if designed and detailed properly according to current seismic design provisions. At the same time, latest developments in steel manufacturing and construction techniques can provide innovative solutions aiming to minimize life-cycle costs of steel buildings due to repairs in the aftermath of earthquakes. Structural steel systems also offer realistic solutions for the development of demountable buildings, where structural members can potentially be re-used after the end of a building’s life. This can be typically achieved by employing selected fuses (termed dissipative elements) to dissipate the seismic action, while maintaining the majority of the structural system damage-free. Thus, member re-use can be promoted in an effort to meet environmental sustainability requirements and resilience challenges in urban areas of moderate to high seismicity. Chapter 4 discusses key principles for the seismic design of conventional steel structural systems that provide adequate ductility during a seismic event to meet the life safety requirements. Moreover, seismic design concepts are presented in Chapter 5 for selected low-damage structural steel systems that potentially limit structural damage in replaceable dissipative elements. In chapter 5 a brief discussion on innovative structural steel systems is also presented.