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Numerical studies have been conducted for low- and medium-rise rocking structures to investigate their efficiency as earthquake-resisting systems in comparison with conventional structures. Several non-linear time-history analyses have been performed to evaluate seismic performance of selected cases at desired ground shaking levels, based on key parameters such as total and flexural story drifts and residual deformations. The Far-field record set is selected as input ground motions and median peak values of key parameters are taken as best estimates of system response. In addition, in order to evaluate the probability of exceeding relevant damage states, analytical fragility curves have been developed based on the results of the incremental dynamic analysis procedure. Small exceedance probabilities and acceptable margins against collapse, together with minor associated damages in main structural members, can be considered as superior seismic performance for medium-rise rocking systems. Low-rise rocking systems could provide significant performance improvement over their conventional counterparts notwithstanding certain weaknesses in their seismic response.

A numerical approach for simulating the seismic performance of steel truss structures, considering damage-induced material softening, is developed based on a ductile damage constitutive model by applying the backward Euler explicit algorithm. It is implemented in ABAQUS through a user-defined material subroutine, by which damage evolution could be incorporated into the analysis of seismic performance of steel structures. The case study taken up here is the investigation of a steel connection with a reduced beam section (RBS) and a steel frame with such connections. The material softening effect during the failure process is particularly investigated. The results show that material softening in the vulnerable zone has a significant effect on the distribution of stress and strain fields, as well as on the carrying capacity of the steel connection with RBS. Further, material softening is found to have almost negligible effect on the seismic performance of the steel frame in the early stages of the loading process, but has a large effect when the steel frame is about to fail. These findings offer a practical reference for the assessment of seismic structural failure, and help in understanding the damage mechanism of steel structures under seismic loading.

A building retrofitted with wing walls in the bottom story, which was damaged during the 2008 M8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in China, is introduced and a corresponding 1/4 scale wing wall-frame model was subjected to shake table motions to study the seismic behavior of this retrofitted structural system. The results show that wing walls can effectively protect columns from damage by moving areas that bear reciprocating tension and compression to the sections of the wing walls, thus achieving an extra measure of seismic fortification. A ‘strong column-weak beam＇ mechanism was realized, the flexural rigidity of the vertical member was strengthened, and a more uniform distribution of deformation among all the stories was measured. In addition, the joint between the wing walls and the beams suffered severe damage during the tests, due to an area of local stress concentration. A longer area of intensive stirrup is suggested in the end of the beams.

The seismic behaviors of an integral concreting frame, a light steel storey-adding frame and a storey-adding frame strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymer（CFRP）were investigated under low-cycle and repeated load（scale 1∶3）. The failure characteristics, hysteretic behavior, rigidity degeneracy, deflection ductility and energy-dissipation capacity of the three specimens were compared. The test results reveal that chemically-bonded rebar technique can meet the requirements of storey-adding engineering. The carrying capacity, the deflec-tion ductility, the energy-dissipating capacity and seismic performance of the light steel storey-adding frame are higher than those of the integral concreting frame, and they are the highest in the storey-adding frame strengthened with CFRP.

Performance analysis of the Pangu Plaza under earthquake and wind loads is described in this paper. The plaza is a 39-story steel high-rise building, 191 m high, located in Beijing close to the 2008 Olympic main stadium. It has both fluid viscous dampers （FVDs） and buckling restrained braces or unbonded brace （BRB or UBB） installed. A repeated iteration procedure in its design and analysis was adopted for optimization. Results from the seismic response analysis in the horizontal and vertical directions show that the FVDs are highly effective in reducing the response of both the main structure and the secondary system. A comparative analysis of structural seismic performance and economic impact was conducted using traditional methods, i.e., increased size of steel columns and beams and/or use of an increased number of seismic braces versus using FVD. Both the structural response and economic analysis show that using FVD to absorb seismic energy not only satisfies the Chinese seismic design code for a ＂rare＂ earthquake, but is also the most economical way to improve seismic performance both for one-time direct investment and long term maintenance.