In the past two decades, considerable research works have been directed toward the development of self-centering (SC) earthquake resisting structural systems that are able to make structures usable and repairable after strong ground motions. The focus of these research works is on eliminating the residual deformations and on preventing the earthquake damage in the primary structural components. In comparison with conventional structural systems, the hysteretic responses of SC structural systems are characterized by high levels of post gap-opening stiffness and with low levels of energy dissipation. This indicates that self-centering structural systems may have spectral response characteristics different from those of conventional systems. In this study, the ductility reduction factor (R_μ) which is required for the estimation of the strength demands is evaluated for SC single degree of freedom systems. The results obtained indicate that SC systems generally have R_μ levels lower than those of conventional systems. Modification factors that can be used to relate the R_μ levels of SC systems to those of conventional structural systems are introduced in this study and found capable of accurately predicting the R_μ levels of SC systems.

在过去的二十年中，已经进行了大量的研究工作，以开发能够在强烈的地面运动后使结构可用和可修复的自定心（SC）抗震结构系统。这些研究工作的重点是消除残余变形并防止主要结构部件遭受地震破坏。与常规结构系统相比，SC结构系统的滞后响应具有较高的开缝后刚度和较低的能量耗散特征。这表明自对中结构系统可能具有与常规系统不同的光谱响应特性。在这项研究中，延展性降低系数（ř _μ对于SC单自由度系统，评估了强度需求估算所需的）。所获得的结果表明，SC系统通常具有ř _μ水平比常规系统降低。可用于为涉及修饰因子- [R _μ SC系统的水平与常规的结构系统在本研究中被引入，并发现能够准确预测ř _μ SC系统的水平。