ABSTRACT
Composite construction as used and envisaged in earthquake resistant design takes two forms:
conventional composite construction as used in the UK comprising composite beams and steel columns, and
a special form of composite construction using concrete encased steel sections called ‘Steel Reinforced Concrete’ or ‘SRC’, with the amount of confining reinforcement sufficient to ensure adequate inelastic deformation.
In the United States of America (a) has been widely adopted in steel framed buildings and it has become apparent that this form of construction has certain disadvantages in earthquake resistant construction, which mainly relates to overstrength considerations. In Japan (b) has been widely adopted. In many older buildings the concrete encases very frail steel construction, and such buildings were found to be damage prone in the Kobe earthquake.
The paper outlines the evolution of Japanese SRC design, the present design method, and the performance of SRC structures in the Kobe earthquake.
