Seismic performance evaluation of moment resisting frames using high performance steel

A new high quality steel material (SN) was developed by reducing the distribution at yield point. This steel material has an advantage of having accurate yield strength compared to regular steel materials (SS and SM). Therefore, by using SN steel, the collapse mechanism can be controlled as intended for design. SS, SM, and SN steel materials were tested, and variations of yield strengths were investigated. The effect of having dispersed yield strength was investigated by conducting experiments on 8 test specimens. Column to beam yield strength ratio was changed from intended column to beam yield strength ratio because of the difference between the specified minimum yield stress and the actual yield strength of the steel materials, and it affected the collapse mechanism and the overall behavior of the specimen. It was verified through static cyclic test and static pushover analysis that the seismic performance of buildings designed using SS and SM steel could be decreased by as much as 20% compared to using SN steel. It is observed that the provision of upper bound limit on yield point in SN steel is effective in securing seismic performance of steel buildings.