Influence of inverted-v-braced system on the stability and strength of multi-story steel frames

Abstract

Population growth in urban centers, together with the lack of physical space, has led to the construction of increasingly tall and slender buildings. Multiple-story structures present substantial challenges to civil engineering because they have specific requirements for their design, construction, and use. The increased number of floors leads to more lateral displacements resulting from horizontal actions. Under these conditions, to ensure system stability, structural bracing components are commonly adopted. In addition, along with the use of more resistant materials and new construction techniques, it is necessary to improve the methodologies adopted in the structural analysis to offer professionals in the area the conditions to undertake safer and more economical projects with better speed and efficiency. Thus, in this study, numerical analyses were applied to steel planar reticulated structures to evaluate their stability and strength when inserting bracing systems. The study compared the arrangement of the bars and analyzed the influence of the parameters of the bracing systems, such as the properties of the cross-section and the position of the inverted-V-braced system. The MASTAN2 program was used to perform nonlinear static assessments using re-ticulated finite elements that considered both geometrical and physical nonlinearities. It was observed that the inverted-V-braced system had a substantial impact on all of the structures that were analyzed, providing increased stiffness and, as a result, signifi-cantly reducing the frame’s lateral displacement.