Investigation of the hysteresis behavior of a convex column brace based on buckling mode transition mechanism

Brace structures with nonlinear stiffness are attractive in vibration mitigation. A new brace consisting of a novel convex column, which is characterized by the addition of a bulge structure compared to a column with constant cross-section, is proposed as a hysteresis brace structure with great applicability for mitigation of low-frequency vibration. The negative stiffness and D-shaped hysteresis damping of the proposed convex column brace generated by the buckling mode transition are verified theoretically and numerically. Comparisons of hysteresis characteristics of the proposed convex column brace and the one with the constant cross-section column are carried out to testify the outperformances of the proposed brace. The results demonstrate that the convex column brace can provide stronger bearing capacity with a smaller deflection and realize hysteresis damping within a shorter displacement range. In addition, a full parametric study is conducted to clarify the effects of geometric properties on hysteresis behavior. The investigation performed in this study not only demonstrates the great applicability of the proposed convex column brace, but also provides guidance on brace design for mitigation in practical application.