Concrete-filled buckling restrained braces (BRBs) was first developed in 1988 in Tokyo, Japan, to prevent the steel plates in the core portion from buckling, leading the steel core to exhibiting a more stable and fully hysteretic loop than conventional steel braces. However, past studies have shown that buckling restrained braced frames (BRBFs) have a large residual deformation after a median or high seismic event due to steel’s residual strain. In order to address this issue, innovative self-centering SMA braces are proposed and installed in the originally unbraced bays in existing BRBFs to become a hybrid frame system where the existing steel BRBs dissipate energy induced by external forces and the newly added self-centering SMA braces restore the building configuration after the steel BRBs yield. A case study of conventional three-story BRBF retrofitted by the proposed self-centering SMA braces is carried out to develop systematic retrofit strategies, to investigate the structural behavior, and to probabilistically assess their seismic performance in terms of interstory drifts, residual drifts, and brace deformation, as compared to the original steel BRB frames. Finally, the developed brace component fragility curves and system fragility curves will be further used for the assessment of downtime and repair cost.

Book Summary: Performance-based assessments have become a critical component of every teacher education program. Such assessments allow teacher candidates to demonstrate their content and pedagogical knowledge, skills, and dispositions in an authentic setting.Evaluating Teacher Education Programs through Performance-Based Assessments analyzes and discusses the theory and concepts behind teacher education program evaluation using assessment tools such as lesson plans, classroom artifacts, student work examples, and video recordings of lessons. Emphasizing critical real-world examples and empirically-based studies, this research-based publication is an ideal reference source for university administrators, teacher educators, K-12 leaders, and graduate students in the field of education.