A review of proposed cast steel hysteretic energy dissipative fuses in high-performance steel structures for enhanced seismic resilience

Despite the inherent ductility of steel as a material, design and detailing of high-performance ductile seismic fuses remains a challenge in seismic design. The connections for such fuses must be detailed carefully given the brittle nature of the weld material itself and the poor performance of the heat affected zones due to welding. In the last two decades, cast steel fuses have emerged as an innovative solution for the development of seismic fuses. Steel casting facilitates the design of steel shapes with a freeform geometry, which can minimize stress/strain concentration as well as residual stresses. In addition, steel casting eliminates the need for welded connections and heat affected zones in and close to the critical yielding regions. Furthermore, the use of steel casting enables a more economical, faster, and more efficient production of complex and mass-produced shapes. This review paper starts with a background on steel casting, casting processes, and its application in structural engineering. A detailed review of application of steel casting technology in the development of high-performance seismic fuses in steel structures is provided. Lastly, two example structures are designed once with a high-performance steel energy dissipative component and then alternatively designed with a high-performance cast steel fuse. The example structures are subjected to a suite of forty ground motions scaled to match the design uniform hazard spectrum. The global response of the example structures is presented to highlight the advantages of previously proposed cast steel fuses.