R. Tremblay et al., PERFORMANCE OF STEEL STRUCTURES DURING THE 1994 NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE, Canadian journal of civil engineering, 22(2), 1995, pp. 338-360
The performance of concentrically braced steel frames and moment resis
ting steel frames during the January 17, 1994, Northridge, California,
earthquake is examined. Most of the observations made during the reco
nnaissance visits confirmed the current knowledge on the inelastic res
ponse of these structural systems. This permits the anticipation of pr
oper seismic behavior for buildings designed according to the seismic
provisions that have been recently introduced in the Canadian building
code and standard for steel structures. In some cases, however, the o
bserved damage raised concerns that should be addressed in future inve
stigations or next editions of these codes. Preventing potentially haz
ardous nonstructural damage, avoiding premature nonductile failures an
ywhere along the lateral load paths, limiting structural and nonstruct
ural damage due to brace buckling, and accounting for the vertical gro
und motion are among those issues.