SDII researcher recently released a new report on the performance of diaphragms as evaluated using typical design office software. Diaphragms are the floor or roof structures in a building that transfer lateral load horizontally to the braced frames or shear walls. For many types of buildings, the building code requires semirigid diaphragm analysis whereby a three-dimension computer model of a building is created with diaphragm elements that can deform elastically. As a companion to the the Steel Diaphragm Innovation Initiative (SDII), this report describes the semirigid diaphragm analysis of typical floors from archetype buildings. In other publications, the archetype buildings are analyzed using advanced simulation techniques that capture nonlinearity and failure of the diaphragms (e.g. as found in multi-story BRB and SCBF buildings or in buildings with bare steel deck diaphragms). The models in this report use software and modelling techniques typical in structural engineering practice and therefore allow the evaluation of design office models for use in understanding behavior of diaphragms during extreme loads such as earthquakes.
