Use of high-strength steel for multi-criteria optimization of dissipative devices

Among the various strategies for the seismic protection of buildings, the use of passive devices based on energy dissipation through the development of plastic deformations represents a valid, simple and economic solution. During seismic events, damage is concentrated in correspondence of the dissipative elements which are thought to be replaced in the post-seismic phase in order to fully recover the initial capacity of the device and, therefore, to restore the original building behaviour. In this context, the adoption of steel devices has relevant impact and advantages on the overall building performance. In the present study, the implementation of a steel dissipative and replaceable device using High-Strength Steels (HSS) for the non-dissipative components was deeply analyzed, and results are briefly presented. The improvement due to HSS adoption accounted for the direct/short-term economic aspects (i.e. cost of the device, weight) and the indirect/long-term ones (i.e. seismic risk performance) within a multi-criterial optimization procedure.