Design of steel frames with buckling restrained braces

Buckling Restrained Braces (BRBs) are very effective in dissipating energy through stable tension-compression hysteretic cycles. Their behaviour was studied extensively in the past decades and successfully experimented for the seismic protection of buildings. Despite the knowledge acquired from experimental and numerical studies, many seismic codes (i.e. Eurocode 8) do not yet stipulate provisions for the design of earthquake-resistant structures equipped with BRBs. This paper describes a procedure for the seismic design of steel frames equipped with BRBs. The results of the numerical investigation are intended for the validation of the design procedure and for the proposal of an appropriate value of the behaviour factor.