Optimized adaptive connections for enhancing seismic resilience in reconfigurable modular structures

This paper presents a feasibility study on the design and seismic performance of innovative adaptive connections that can mitigate dynamic responses of structures by altering their stiffness under earthquakes. Specifically, this research investigated the design of connections with various materials (steel, rubber, and metamaterials), optimized the design via an optimization method, and evaluated the seismic responses of a multi-story building with the proposed adaptive connections. The design and evaluation of the building was based on an American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) benchmark structure. The locations and the stiffness of the adaptive connections were optimized to minimize the dynamic responses of the building. Results show that using the proposed connections to replace 10 % of the connectional connections reduced the maximum story drift of the benchmark building by 28 % and reduced the pseudo-spectral acceleration by 50 %. Such connections can be used to develop reconfigurable modular structures with improved resilience and sustainability.