Rotation capacity improvement of long link beams in eccentrically braced frames

The use of short link beams in eccentrically braced frames (ebfs) is generally preferred to long ones, mainly due to their high rotation capacity and energy dissipation under cyclic loadings. however, long links have the advantage of providing openings in the braced spans of ebfs. based on a few tests conducted on long link behavior in the literature, seismic provisions (aisc-341-05) limits their rotation capacity to a small value of 0:02 rad. in this paper, a three dimensional finite-element model using abaqus is developed for the inelastic nonlinear analysis of long links to investigate their rotation capacity. it was found that using some new intermediate stiffeners, in addition to those specified in the seismic provisions, a large rotation capacity for long links can be achieved.