Experimental behavior and analysis of self-centering steel brace with pre-pressed disc springs

Quasi-static reversed cyclic loading tests and finite element analyses of a pre-pressed spring self-centering energy dissipation brace are conducted. The proposed steel bracing system combines a mechanism of pre-pressed disc springs for self-centering with friction devices for energy dissipation. The mechanics and the basic equations governing the design and distribution of internal force are presented. The results demonstrate that the bracing system exhibits stable and repeatable self-centering hysteretic responses with effective energy dissipation, and no residual deformation occurs when the initial pre-pressed force of disc springs is greater than the friction force provided by the energy dissipation devices. The forces at the surface of the inner and outer tubes are distributed as expected. The inverse calculation method is proposed to predict the hysteretic responses employing the strain data, the comparative analyses of behaviors obtained from experiments, finite element analyses, and inverse calculation are conducted, and good agreements are observed.