ROBUSTNESS ANALYSIS OF RC FRAME WITH LATTICED-FRAME COLUMN

To investigate the robustness behavior of RC frame with latticed-frame column,a quantificational method of member vulnerability coefficient based on resistance utilization rate is proposed and the calculation of structural robustness coefficient is improved in this paper. Four RC frames with different latticed-frame columns are analyzed and compared, which considered the member importance coefficient, member vulnerability coefficient and structural robustness coefficient. Analysis indicates that that braces can reduce both the member importance coefficient and vulnerability coefficient, leading to improvement of structural robustness. The robustness coefficient can be influenced by the strength of braces, when the brace is a vulnerable member. A stronger brace leads to a more robust structure. Finally, three effective methods to improve the structural robustness are proposed: reducing the member importance coefficient, reducing the member vulnerable coefficient, and reducing the coincidence rate of the important members and the vulnerable members. It is concluded that it is an effect way to improve the robustness of RC frame with latticed-frame column by adding braces into latticed-frame column.