Combined SCD-SPSW system subjected to ground excitation

Purpose In this study, the application of a novel combined steel curved damper (SCD) and steel plate shear wall (SPSW) system in the 5-, 10- and 15-storey steel moment-resisting frames (SMR) subjected to earthquake excitation has been investigated. The proposed system is called here as the SMR-WD (steel moment resisting–wall damper). Design/methodology/approach At the beginning of this research, an SMR-W and an SMR-D are separately modeled in ABAQUS software and verified against the available experimental data. After that, three different heights SMR-WD systems (5-, 10- and 15-storey) are designed and simulated. Then, their performances are examined and compared to the corresponding SMR-W under the effects of six actual earthquake records. Findings The obtained results show that the proposed system increases the mean values of the base shear for 5-, 10- and 15-storey SMR-WD equal to 27, 20.15 and 16.51%, respectively compared to the corresponding SMR-W. Moreover, this system reduces the drift of the floors so that the reduction in the average values of maximum drift for 5-, 10- and 15-storey SMR-WD is equal to 10, 7 and 29%, respectively with respect to the corresponding SMR-W. The results also reveal that the considered system dissipates more energy than SMR-W so that the increase in the mean values of the energy absorption for 5-, 10- and 15-storey SMR-WD is 30.8, 25.6 and 41.3%, respectively when compared to the SMR-W. Furthermore, it is observed that SMR-WD has a positive effect on the seismic performance of the link beams and panel zones of the frames. By increasing the height of the structure in the SMR-WD, the energy dissipation and base shear force increases and the drift of floors decreases. Hereupon, the proposed SMR-WD system is more useful for tall buildings than SMR-W frames. Originality/value For the first time, the application of a novel combined steel curved damper (SCD) and steel plate shear wall (SPSW) system in the 5-, 10- and 15-storey steel moment-resisting frames (SMR) subjected to earthquake excitation has been investigated.