Safety margin and construction costs are two conflicting goals for a structure. By providing a fuse in a structure that is triggered at a certain level of over-loading, further increase of loading is prohibited and failure of the structure is changed to a safer mode. As overloading is controlled and a safer failure mode is enforced, a fused structure requires a smaller safety factor thus leading to more economical construction without compromising safety. The use of a fuse will also facilitate safer use of advanced construction materials such as fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. In this case, a fuse can transfer the sudden and dangerous failure mode associated with brittle FRP debonding or rupture to a safe and ductile failure mode at the fuse location. This paper introduces a new type of fused structure as well as an associated design philosophy and approach, in addition to examples of engineering applications.

中文翻译：

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融合结构，可实现更安全，更经济的建筑

安全裕度和建筑成本是结构的两个相互矛盾的目标。通过在结构中提供在一定程度的过载时触发的保险丝，就可以禁止进一步增加负载，并将结构的故障更改为更安全的模式。由于控制了过载并实施了更安全的失效模式，因此融合结构需要更小的安全系数，从而在不损害安全性的情况下实现了更经济的构造。使用保险丝还将有助于更安全地使用先进的建筑材料，例如纤维增强聚合物（FRP）复合材料。在这种情况下，保险丝可以将与脆性FRP脱粘或破裂相关的突然而危险的故障模式转移到保险丝位置处的安全且易延展的故障模式。