The objective of this course is to assist a licensed design professional, practicing structural engineers, forensic structural engineers, consulting engineers, building officials,  educators, students and/or a licensed general contractor to deeply know, and understand the structural analysis, seismic design and performance  of steel special concentrically braced frame systems based on AISC 341-22 and ASCE 7-22 provisions. The importance of this course lies in the fact that there are not a sufficient number of references dealing with this topic, so the course was designed to be a guide for the structural engineers. This course is intended especially for the practicing structural engineer, though it will also be useful for building officials, educators, and students.  What are steel concentrically braced frames? Steel concentrically braced frames are structural systems which load bearing elements such as beams, columns and braces are arranged to form a vertical truss. These vertical trusses resist the effects of earthquake forces by truss action. The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) defines the seismic provisions for concentrically braced frames based on their expected capacity to withstand inelastic deformations.

Learning Objectives

• Gaining a general overview on the steel concentrically braced frames in general
• Gaining a general overview on the use of steel special concentrically braced frames
• Gaining a general overview on the principles for design of steel special concentrically braced frames
• Gaining a general overview on the general system performance
• Gaining a general overview on the various braced frame system configurations
• Gaining a general overview on the observed Earthquake Damage
• Gaining a general overview on the modes of behavior to be avoided
• Familiarizing with capacity-based design
• Familiarizing with analysis of special concentrically braced frames according to both AISC 341 & ASCE 7 codes
• Gaining a general overview on the steel special concentrically braced frames modeling issues
• Gaining a general overview on the limitations of elastic analysis
• Gaining a general overview on the plastic mechanism analysis frame
• Gaining a general overview on the plastic mechanism analysis in design practice
• Familiarizing with analysis of nonlinear dynamic analysis guidance
• Familiarizing with design guidance as : AISC design procedure, layout, configuration, braces, connections, detailing for buckling, gusset plate design methods, frame deformations , web proportioning, base connections, & mid-span connections
• Gaining a general overview on some additional requirements as: mixing bolts and welds, foundation design, composite steel special concentrically braced frames, & brace transverse displacement
• Familiarizing with detailing and constructability