Eccentrically Braced Frames (EBFs) have been widely used in seismic protection and remediation in the recent years. However, the seismic behavior of shear links made of high strength steel, which are essential "fuse" elements in EBFs, are not fully understood yet. Furthermore, most existing studies either assumed no axial load or an unrealistic constant axial load. In this numerical simulation study, two steel grades (Q460 high strength structural steel (by China standard) and ASTM A992 steel for comparison) were considered for the shear link specimens and their effects on shear link's seismic performance were numerically studied under cyclically varying lateral load along with axial force.

Finite element (FE) modeling of shear link specimens with the above two steel grades were established in a general FE analysis software - ANSYS and numerical simulations are conducted on these finite element models following monotonic and cyclic loading protocols respectively. To see whether a sustainability goal of steel structure design (by saving steel use) can be achieved or not, a feasibility study of Q460 steel shear links with various section size reduction schemes are performed in this research.

The numerical simulation results reveal that shear links made of Q460 high strength steel have satisfactory performance compared with A992 steel shear links, with additional benefits of material saving and weight reduction, often desired features for sustainable steel construction and replaceable fuse elements in seismic resistant structures.