Abstract:
Damage in recent major earthquakes has resulted in engineers' effort on the development of techniques which not only provide life-safety, but also aim to minimise damage so that buildings could be reoccupied quickly with minimal business interruption and repair costs. In this paper, the new developments on the innovative Resilient Slip Friction Joint (RSFJ) technology are introduced which provide an advanced engineering solution for seismic damage avoidance design of structures. Given the significance of the deformation compatibility in the connections of rocking structures to fully satisfy the low-damage design concept, the performance of the RSFJ under in- and out-of-plane rotations has been investigated analytically and experimentally. The results demonstrate the RSFJ rotational flexibility in addition to the main translational deformability, owing to the discs springs providing the chance for the separation and prying of the RSFJ clamped plates without losing the joint integrity. The comparison between the predictions and the test results verifies the accuracy of the model developed. Also, different applications of the RSFJ technology have been presented adoptable for new structures as well as retrofitting of earthquake-prone buildings.
