Reliability-based seismic assessment of controlled rocking steel cores

Abstract Controlled-rocking steel cores (CRSCs) effectively prevent earthquake-induced residual damage while may suffer large lateral displacements . This paper gives a particular emphasis on examining the seismic reliability of CRSCs. Accordingly, extensive nonlinear dynamic analyses are conducted for low- and mid-rise archetypes. A set of random variables (RV), including geometry parameters, material properties, and design details of post-tensioned cables (PTs) and energy dissipations (EDs), are considered for reliability assessment. The vectors of RVs are generated by Monte Carlo simulation for 5, 10, and 15% coefficient of variations . Considering uncertainty associated with RVs, peak displacement responses for CRSCs are determined under 44 far-field ground motions. The probability failure and reliability index are quantified for three performance levels, and sensitivity analysis is performed to measure the significance of RVs. Results indicate that the design procedure is reliable and the safety of CRSCs is provided; however, the probability failure for mid-rise CRSCs is more than low-rise archetypes.