NONLINEAR PERFORMANCE OF ALUMINIUM ALLOY MOMENT-RESISTING FRAME BUILDINGS

Aluminium alloys have recently emerged as a promising structural material in the construction sector due to their unique properties. Despite numerous studies exploring the behaviour of aluminium alloy cross-section structural components, limited research has been conducted on the overall performance of entire buildings constructed with aluminium alloy elements. This paper aims to assess the nonlinear performance of 6000 series aluminium alloy moment-resisting frame buildings and compare it to the one of their counterpart made from conventional carbon steel. Particularly, three 4-storey moment-resisting frame buildings made from 6082-T6, 6063-T6 and 6060-T5 aluminium alloys are optimally designed against seismic and gravity loadings based on European standards. A parametric study is carried out through nonlinear pushover analyses under different lateral load profiles to investigate the influence of aluminium alloys on the capacity curves of the considered buildings. The obtained results demonstrate the potential of aluminium alloys as a structural material for building applications located in seismic prone areas.