modulus; Est is the initial strain hardening modulus; "st is the strain at the onset of strain

hardening;
and "y is the yield strain. All the columns are loaded with one cycle of lateral
displacement reversal
at each displacement amplitude (i.e. __y; _2_y; : : :).
Hysteretic curves of non-dimensionalized lateral load, H=Hy, versus lateral displacement,
_=_y, of
six columns are illustrated in Figure 5. Figures 5(a) and 5(b) show the e_ect of __
on the hysteretic
curves of the columns, while the e_ect of Rf is indicated in Figures 5(c) and 5(d). The
e_ect of
sti_ener's sti_ness ratio can be observed in Figures 5(e) and 5(f). Envelope curves of
lateral load
versus lateral displacement are shown in Figures 6{10. In what follows, e_ects of each
parameter
are discussed separately.
3.1. E_ect of ange plate width{thickness ratio (Rf )
Figures 6(a) and 6(b) show envelope curves for di_erent values of Rf corresponding to __
=0:35
and 0:20, respectively. =_ =3:0 and _=0:5 are kept constant in these columns. It is found
that
the maximum strength and its corresponding displacement increase with the decrease in
Rf. In the
case of __
=0:35 [see Figure 6(a)], for example, the maximum strength of B12 with Rf =0:25
Copyright ? 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Earthquake Engng Struct. Dyn. 2000; 29:1707{1722
STIFFENED STEEL BOX COLUMNS. PART 2 1713

Figure 6. E_ect of Rf .
Figure 7. E_ect of __
.

is about 11 per cent higher than that of B6-15 with Rf =0:35 and 23 per cent higher than
that of B3 with Rf =0:46. The displacement corresponding to the maximum strength of
B12 is
about 80 and 125 per cent larger than that of B6-15 and B3, respectively. Clearly, the
column
B12 has higher energy absorption and ductility capacity than the other two columns.
With the
same __
=0:20 [see Figure 6(b)], the maximum strength and its corresponding displacement of
column B11 (Rf =0:25) are 14 and 67 per cent larger than those of column B5 (Rf =0:35),
respectively. In addition, the slope of post-buckling curve becomes steeper as Rf
increases in both
cases of __
=0:35 and 0:20. In conclusion, the parameter Rf has a great inuence on the ultimate
strength and ductility of the columns.
3.2. E_ect of column slenderness ratio (__
)
The e_ect of __
on the ultimate strength and ductility of the columns are shown in Figures 7(a)
and 7(b), respectively. It is worth noting that the initial slope of the envelope curves is
somewhat
di_erent mainly due to the neglect of transverse shear deformation in calculating _y. For
example,
in the case of column B5 with __
=0:20, initial slope of the curve is a little lower than that of
the other two curves because of the relatively large inuence of transverse shear
deformation for
short columns. From Figures 7(a) and 7(b), it can be seen that both the maximum
strength and
ductility increase with the decrease in __

. In the case of __
=0:50 [see column B10 in Figure 7(a)
and column B4 in Figure 7(b)], the slope of post-buckling curve becomes much steeper
than that
of any other columns. The reason lies in that larger __
is connected with more signi_cant P{_