Replaceable Fuses in Earthquake Resistant Steel Structures: A Review

In earthquake-prone regions, steel structures are considered to be one of the best choices due to inherent material properties in terms of homogeneity and ductility. In the conventional seismic design of steel structures, prevalent specifications recommend that the column and joints should be strong enough such that the inelastic action or damage occurs in the beams in lateral load resisting frames. By following these design provisions, structural collapse can be prevented in the event of severe earthquakes to ensure occupant safety. However, repair and rehabilitation of damaged primary members is a challenging task and also time-consuming process, resulting in severe inconvenience to the occupants. To simplify the repair works in earthquake resistant steel structures after the event of severe earthquakes, recent research work is concentrated on designing structures to have localized inelastic damages at intended locations, which will dissipate the seismic energy and can be easily replaced after the event of a strong earthquake, so that normal life of the occupants can be restored immediately with lesser cost of repair. This paper presents a critical review of the state-of-the-art related to steel lateral load resisting systems comprising of replaceable fuses that help in the easy repair of steel structures following strong earthquakes.