PSI - Issue 78

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 1087–1094

XX ANIDIS Conference Enhanced seismic performance of linked column frames by means of three linked columns Melina Bosco*, Marco Caragliano, Elga Mangiameli, Pier Paolo Rossi Departemnt of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Via S. Sofia 64, 95125 Catania, Italy

© 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of XX ANIDIS Conference organizers Keywords: design procedure; steel link beams; fragility curves. Abstract The linked column frame (LCF) system has recently been proposed as a resilient seismic load resisting structural type. The primary resisting system consists of dual columns connected by easily replaceable links, whereas the secondary resisting system consists of moment resisting frames. Despite the high energy dissipation capacity of this structural system, previous studies have shown that relatively low behavior factor values must be adopted to meet the interstorey drift limits required by Eurocode 8. This paper investigates a modified structural configuration featuring three linked columns, aimed at reducing interstorey drift demands. Specifically, the seismic performance and construction costs of a six-story building designed using the traditional configuration (i.e., two linked columns) are compared with those of the proposed configuration (i.e., three linked columns). 1. Introduction The linked column frame (LCF) system has recently been proposed as a resilient seismic load resisting structural type. The primary resisting system consists of dual columns connected by easily replaceable links, while the secondary resisting system consists of moment resisting frames (MRFs) (Malakoutian et al., 2012). Links are arranged both at the floor level and at intermediate heights. Generally, one to two links are considered at intermediate heights (Fig. 1a). LCF system should be designed to fulfill three performance objectives (Fig. 1b-d). For earthquake ground motions with a probability of exceedance of 50% in 50 years, all members of both the LC system and MRFs should remain

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +390957382254; fax: +39 095 330309. E-mail address: melina.bosco@unict.it

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of XX ANIDIS Conference organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.12.139