Relationships between seismic design conditions and superior design solutions of steel buildings

Abstract Superior design solutions (SDSs) of seven‐story steel buildings are obtained for the space frame system (SFS) and the perimeter frame system (PFS) in various types of structures such as moment frames (MF) and those with buckling restrained braces (BRBF). The SDSs satisfy the design constraints of allowable stress design (ASD) and calculations of resistance and limit state (CRLS) with minimized steel volume. The influences of design conditions are comparatively evaluated. It is found that the maximum inter‐story drift ratio for the safety limit in the CRLS for MF can be rationally defined as 2% and ASD can be more dominant for BRBF.