PERFORMANCE OF STEEL STRUCTURES DURING THE 1994 NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE

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.