Seismic assessment and upgrade of Type 2 construction steel moment-resisting frames built in Canada between the 1960s and 1980s using passive supplemental damping.

The seismic performance of a typical 1960s Type 2 construction steel moment-resisting frame hospital structure designed only for lateral wind loads was investigated. The structure was found to have a soft first storey and displayed large P-Δ sensitivities. An experimental program determined that the connections had considerable inherent ductility and were stable up to 2.0% interstorey drift, despite not having been designed for a ductile cyclic response. The structure was numerically modelled using advanced strength degradation considerations. A nonlinear time-history analysis was conducted using Montreal and Vancouver ground motions and the structure's performance was found to be inadequate under the considered design hazard levels. Retrofits were proposed for the two orthogonal frames using a performance-based approach and supplemental damping, rather than local interventions to increase the ductility of these connections, and the performance of the final retrofit designs were investigated numerically to confirm that the desired performance levels were achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]