In order to investigate the seismic performance of structure with energy dissipation cladding panels(EDCP),a 1/2-scale two-story and one-span reinforced concrete(RC)frame structure was designed and fabricated.EDCP were only equipped along the Y-direction,forming a'damping structure'in this direction and a'seismic structure'counterpart in the X-direction.Two natural ground motions were selected as inputs,and unidirectional shaking table tests under service level earthquake(SLE),design basis earthquake(DBE),and maximum considered earthquake(MCE)were conducted in the two directions of the test structure.The dynamic properties and seismic responses of the two structures were then compared.The test results show that the damage degree and seismic response of the damping structure are lesser than those of the seismic structure under DBE and MCE,indicating a satisfactory control effect.The damage of the two structures both focuses on the ends of beams and the roots of first story columns,indicating that the EDCP does not influence the damage pattern of the main structure.Throughout the test,the U-shaped steel dampers exhibit an expected crawler-type deformation and basically keep undamaged.Even under MCE,the cladding panels remain intact,indicating that this kind of structure can effectively control the damage to the cladding panels.

A hybrid control structure (HCS) using seismic isolation at the base and energy dissipating cladding panel system (EDCPS) in the superstructure was proposed to realize enhanced seismic performance objectives of the main structure and nonstructural walls. To verify the feasibility of the HCS and validate its advantages in controlling the damage of structures compared with a seismic isolation structure (SIS) and a damping structure (DS), 1/2-scale shaking table tests were conducted on a HCS, an SIS, and a DS designed based on Chinese Standard. The seismic performance of the three damage control structures under different earthquake levels and ground motions (i.e., normal and velocity pulse-type ground motions) were investigated, including the damage characteristic, global responses, and isolator and damper behaviors. The test results indicated that the HCS provided the best control effect and remained elastic under the maximum considered earthquake (MCE). In contrast, slight and moderate damage were observed in the main structures of the SIS and DS under the MCE, respectively. Under the service level earthquake, the seismic response of the HCS was similar to or even greater than that of the SIS. While under the design basis earthquake and MCE, the U-shaped steel dampers in the HCS yielded and partially dissipated the earthquake energy; thus, this resulted in an obvious reduction in the drift ratio compared with that of the SIS. No damage to the cladding panels was observed in the HCS and DS, which indicated that the EDCPS was effective in controlling damage to the panels. In addition, a velocity-pulse type ground motion and the peak ground velocity significantly influenced the seismic responses of the HCS, SIS, and DS, particularly under the MCE. (c) 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.

In this study, a dissipative connection system for multistory steel frame structures is proposed, in which two bearing connectors are located at the top and a metal yielding dissipative connector (i.e., tapered connector) is located at the bottom of a large panel. Quasi-static test was conducted to investigate the performance of individual connectors first. Then two steel subassemblies, one having a steel frame with a large cladding panel and the other as its counterpart, a bare frame, were prefabricated and tested under quasi-static loading. Effect of the cladding panel and the proposed connections on the seismic performance of the steel frame was evaluated. It was indicated that the damage of the tapered connector was caused by the rupture of one energy dissipation plate during the fatigue loading and the hysteresis behavior of the connector was affected by the membrane effect. The proposed energy dissipation connector can improve the strength, stiffness, especially the energy dissipation capacity of the subassembly. However, the failure of both subassemblies was mainly caused by the yielding of the column foot and buckling of the beam end, therefore the cladding panel did not change the damage pattern of the steel frame. Three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) analysis was conducted to reproduce the tests of the connectors and the subassemblies, facilitating a better understanding of the working mechanism of the system.

Recently, a high-performance reinforced concrete (RC) frame structure with an energy dissipative cladding panel connection system (EDCPCS) was proposed. It creatively uses the relative deformation between the main structure and the cladding panel through U-shaped steel dampers (USDs) to dissipate plastic energy and control the damage to the RC frame. To realize a performance-based seismic design of this novel structure, performance objectives of the entire structure, USDs, and the frame structure under four earthquake levels were recommended. Subsequently, an equivalent energy design procedure (EEDP) was developed to realize the four-level performance objectives, and a calculation method for the critical design parameters (i.e., energy modification factors) was recommended. To validate the reliability of EEDP, an eight-story structure was designed, and nonlinear time history analyses were conducted under four earthquake levels. The critical seismic responses of the overall structure, energy dissipation characteristics of the USDs, and damage characteristics of the main structure were evaluated. The results indicate that the expected performance was successfully achieved using this method, thus validating the feasibility and reliability of this method. This study provides a practical design method for RC frame structures with EDCPCS.