Study of the elastic stiffness factor of steel structures with different lateral load resisting systems

Abstract

Steel structures, like other types of structures, are exposed to different types of loads, including lateral loads such as earthquake and wind. To resist such loading, lateral stiffness has a significant role. In this paper, the elastic stiffness factor (K) for different models of steel structure with various bracing systems and different parameters are compared. The comparison has been performed by analysing and studying the formation of plastic hinges applying the pushover analysis. The results illustrate that the increase in the number of stories reduces the K value, while the increase of span length increases it. Besides, the usage of the bracing system significantly increases the K value.