Seismic and Resilient Property Analysis of SMA-Based Replaceable BRBs

A novel type of buckling restrained brace (BRB) utilized the super-elasticity of shape memory alloys (SMAs) is developed, and a new assembly of restraint parts is proposed to solve the problem of poor restorability and non-replacement of traditional BRBs. The novel BRB components are simplified and modeled by using the ABAQUS platform to study the seismic and resilient properties. The axial carrying capacity and hysteresis energy consumption capacity of both the novel BRB components and the traditional ones are analyzed and compared, respectively. The numerical results show that the new assembly of restraint parts of the novel BRB component can improve the hysteresis energy-consuming capacity about 10% under the same condition as the core energy-consuming components. The SMA-based novel BRB component as the core energy-consuming one behaves typically as the "flag-shaped" hysteresis curves, and the SMA-based and replaceable BRB components have good seismic and resilient performances. The influence of gap measurement between the restraint component and the energy-consuming component on the performance of BRB is also analyzed.