ADD RESILIENCE WITH DURAFUSE FRAMES
DuraFuse Frames products are the only resilient, fully-restrained steel moment frame connection.
What’s different about DuraFuse Frames? Other moment frame systems are designed to sacrifice the beams during severe earthquakes, making them difficult or impossible to repair. The bottom flange fuse plate protects the beams and columns (ZERO damage to beams and columns) and is the ONLY part to be replaced after a severe earthquake with NO need to replace following lesser events.
How do DuraFuse Frames systems work? The fully restrained connections are undamaged for wind and moderate earthquakes. During severe earthquakes, inelastic deformations are accommodated by shear yielding of the fuse plate and bolt slip.
An open-source article in the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering investigating the concept of replaceable fuses in steel special moment frames (DuraFuse Frames) has been published online. The focus is on comparing the difference in structural response to significant earthquakes and the post-event time and construction costs to reoccupy the structure after the event between:
1) Designing for a higher-risk category (normal versus essential)
2) Including replaceable fuses in the structural frame.
Both the performance aspects (drift and residual drift) and the functional recovery components (time and construction costs) are included in the assessment.
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DuraFuse Frames is an innovative company with a reputation for consistent advancement at the highest level of wind and seismic design.
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