• Computers and Concrete
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.489-505
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• 2012

This paper presents a simplified grid beam model for simulating the nonlinear response of reinforced concrete flat-plate structures. The beam elements are defined with nonlinear behavior for bending moment and torsion. The flexural stiffness and torsional strength of the beam elements are defined based on experimental data to implicitly account for slab two-way bending effects. A failure criterion that considers the interaction between the punching strength and slab flexural behavior is incorporated in the model. The effects of bond-slip of slab reinforcement on connection stiffness are examined. The proposed grid beam model is validated by simulating large-scale tests of slab-column connections subjected to concentric gravity loading and unbalanced moment. This study also determines the critical parameters for a hysteretic model used to simulate flat-plates subjected to cyclic lateral loading.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2018

Multi-storey precast concrete skeletal structures are assembled from individual prefabricated components which are erected on-site using various types of connections. In the current design of these structures, beam-to-column connections are assumed to be pin jointed. Welded plate beam to-column connections have been used in the precast concrete industry for many years. They have many advantages over other jointing methods in component production, quality control, transportation and assembly. However, there is at present limited information concerning their detailed structural behaviour under bending and shear loadings. The experimental work has involved the determination of moment-rotation relationships for semi-rigid precast concrete connections in full scale connection tests. The study reported in this paper was undertaken to clarify the behaviour of such connections under symmetrical vertical loadings. A series of full-scale tests was performed on sample column for which the column geometry and weld arrangements conformed with successful commercial practice. Proprietary hollow core slabs were tied to the beams by tensile reinforcing bars, which also provide the in-plane continuity across the connections. The strength of the connections in the double sided tests was at least 0.84 times the predicted moment of resistance of the composite beam and slab. The secant stiffness of the connections ranged from 0.7 to 3.9 times the flexural stiffness of the attached beam. When the connections were tested without the floor slabs and tie steel, the reduced strength and stiffness were approximately a third and half respectively. This remarkable contribution of the floor strength and stiffness to the flexural capacity of the joint is currently neglected in the design process for precast concrete frames. In general, the double sided connections were found to be more suited to a semi-rigid design approach than the single sided ones. The behaviour of double sided welded plate connection test results are presented in this paper. The behaviour of single sided welded plate connection test results is the subject of another paper.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2018

A through diaphragm is often used to ensure their stiffness for moment-resisting connections using rectangular steel-tube column and H-shaped beam. The through-diaphragm connections, however, have some difficulties for their applicabilities to the field due to the complexity of the fabrication and construction processes. This study thus proposes a new modular system of steel structures assembled only using bolts without welding, by bringing a connection module composed of rectangular steel-tube column, H-shaped beam and oneway bolt onto the site. An experimental study to evaluate the seismic performance of the proposed connection details based on the new modular system is then conducted. The length and type of the inner reinforcement plate are considered as the primary design parameters, and the strength, stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation capability of the new connections are experimentally analyzed by comparison to those of conventional through diaphragm connections.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2017

This paper focuses on the seismic performance of pallet-type steel storage rack structures in their down aisle direction. As evidenced by experimental research, the seismic response of storage racks in the down-aisle direction is strongly affected by the nonlinear moment-rotation response of the beam-to-column connections. In their down-aisle direction, rack structures are designed to resist lateral seismic loads with typical moment frames utilizing proprietary beam-to-column moment-resisting connections. These connections are mostly boltless hooked type connections and they exhibit significantly large rotations resulting in large lateral frame displacements when subjected to strong ground motions. In this paper, typical hooked boltless beam-to-column connections are studied experimentally to obtain their non-linear reversed cyclic moment-rotation response. Additionally, a compound type connection involving the standard hooks and additional bolts were also tested under similar conditions. The simple introduction of the additional bolts within the hooked connection is considered to be a practical way of structural upgrade in the connection. The experimentally evaluated characteristics of the connections are compared in terms of some important performance indicators such as maximum moment and rotation capacity, change in stiffness and accumulated energy levels within the cyclic loading protocol. Finally, the obtained characteristics were used to carry out seismic performance assessment of rack frames incorporating the tested beam-to-column connections. The assessment involves a displacement based approach that utilizes a simple analytical model that captures the seismic behavior of racks in their down-aisle direction. The results of the study indicate that the proposed method of upgrading appears to be a very practical and effective way of increasing the seismic performance of hooked connections and hence the rack frames in their down-aisle direction.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.603-622
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• 2018

Precast concrete structures are erected from individual prefabricated components, which are assembled on-site using different types of connections. In the present design of these structures, beam-to-column connections are assumed pin jointed. Bolted billet beam to-column connections have been used in the precast concrete industry for many years. They have many advantages over other jointing methods in component production, quality control, transportation and assembly. However, there is currently limited information concerning their detailed structural behaviour under vertical loadings. The experimental work has involved the determination of moment-relative rotation relationships for semi-rigid precast concrete connections in full-scale connection tests. The study reported in this paper was undertaken to clarify the behaviour of such connections under symmetrical vertical loadings. A series of full-scale tests was performed on sample column for which the column geometry and bolt arrangements conformed to successful commercial practice. Proprietary hollow core floor slabs were tied to the beams by 2T25 tensile reinforcing bars, which also provide the in-plane continuity across the connections. The contribution of the floor strength and stiffness to the flexural capacity of the joint is currently neglected in the design process for precast concrete frames. The flexural strength of the connections in the double-sided tests was at least 0.93 times the predicted moment of resistance of the composite beam and slab. The secant stiffness of the connections ranged from 0.94 to 1.94 times the flexural stiffness of the attached beam. In general, the double-sided connections were found to be more suited to a semi-rigid design approach than the single sided ones. The behaviour of double sided bolted billet connection test results are presented in this paper. The behaviour of single sided bolted billet connection test results is the subject of another paper.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.203-211
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• 2023

For fast-built and safe precast concrete (PC) construction, the dry mechanical splicing method is a critical technique that enables a self-sustaining system (SSS) during construction with no temporary support and minimizes onsite jobs. However, due to limited experimental evidence, traditional wet splicing methods are still dominantly adopted in the domestic precast industry. For PC beam-column connections, the current design code requires achieving emulative connection performances and corresponding structural integrity to be comparable with typical reinforced concrete (RC) systems with monolithic connections. To this end, this study conducted the standard material tests on mechanical splices to check their satisfactory performance as the Type 2 mechanical splice specified in the ACI 318 code. Two PC beam-column connection specimens with dry mechanical splices and an RC control specimen as the special moment frame were subsequently fabricated and tested under lateral reversed cyclic loadings. Test results showed that the seismic performances of all the PC specimens were fully comparable to the RC specimen in terms of strength, stiffness, energy dissipation, drift capacity, and failure mode, and their hysteresis responses showed a mitigated pinching effect compared to the control RC specimen. The seismic performances of the PC and RC specimens were evaluated quantitatively based on the ACI 374 report, and it appeared that all the test specimens fully satisfied the seismic performance criteria as a code-compliant special moment frame system.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.23-32
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• 1999

Behavior of H-beam connections under cyclic loadings is investigated experimentally in this study. The purpose of this study is to study the effect of steel properties and coping shape on the hysteretic behavior of H-beam connections. Five beam-to-column connection specimens were fabricated and tested under cyclic loadings. The load-rotation curves of the beam connections were mainly obtained. Deformation capacity and energy dissipation capacity of the connections are compared each other. The connections fabricated from SS400 showed good deformability and energy dissipation capacity, but those from SM490 showed brittle fracture at the connection. The coping shape at the connections showed a little difference in cyclic behavior.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.121-130
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• 2002

This paper presents the tensile behavior of a Concrete-Filled Square Steel Tubular (CFT) column to H-beam welded connections. These connections were externally reinforced with T-shaped stiffeners at the junction of CFT column and beam. The tensile loading tests of eighteen tee-joint connections and finite element analysis using ANSYS were carried out. The main parameters of tests are as follows: 1) the thickness of Square Steel Tubular Column : 6 mm, 9 mm, 2) the strength ratios of tensile strength of horizontal stiffeners to tensile strength of beam flange : 70 %, 100 %, 150 %, 3) the strength ratios of shear strength of vertical stiffeners to tensile strength of beam flange : 80 %, 115 %, 160 %. The results of the tests demonstrate that overall behavior and failure modes of all the specimens are governed mainly by the horizontal stiffeners rather than the vertical stiffeners, and the vertical stiffener played only a role in transferring load introduced from beam to column.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.591-601
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• 2018

Non-moment beam-to-column connections, which are usually referred to as simple or shear connections, are typically designed to carry only gravity loads in the form of vertical shears. Although in the analysis of structures these connections are usually assumed to be pinned, they may provide a small amount of rotational stiffness due to the typical connection details. This paper investigates the effects of this small rotational restraint of simple beam-to-column connections on the behavior and seismic response of steel braced non-moment resisting frames. Two types of commonly used simple connections with bolted angles, i.e., the Double Web angle Connection (DWC) and Unstiffened Seat angle Connection (USC) are considered for this purpose. In addition to the pinned condition - as a simplified representation of these connections - more accurate semi-rigid models are established and then applied to some frame models subjected to nonlinear pushover and nonlinear time history analyses. Although the use of bracing elements generally reduces the sensitivity of the global structural response to the behavior of connections, the obtained results indicate considerable effects on the local responses. Namely, our results show that consideration of the real behavior of connections is essential in designing the column elements where the pin-connection assumption significantly underestimates design of outer columns of upper stories.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.1065-1084
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• 2016

The analysis and design of skeletal structures is greatly influenced by the behaviour of beam-to-column connections, where patented designs have led to a wide range of types with differing structural quantities. The behaviour of beam-to-column connections plays an important role in the analysis and design of framed structures. This paper presents an overview of the influence of connection behaviour on structural stability, in the in-plane (bending) mode of sway. A computer-based method is presented for geometrically nonlinear plane frames with semi-rigid connections accounting for shear deformations. The analytical procedure employs transcendental modified stability functions to model the effect of axial force on the stiffness of members. The member stiffness matrix were found. The critical load has been searched as a suitable load parameter for the loss of stability of the system. Several examples are presented to demonstrate the validity of the analysis procedure. The method is readily implemented on a computer using matrix structural analysis techniques and is applicable for the efficient nonlinear analysis of frameworks. Combined with a parametric column effective length study, connection and frame stiffness are used to propose a method for the analysis of semi-rigid frames where column effective lengths are greatly reduced and second order (deflection induced) bending moments in the column may be distributed via the connectors to the beams, leading to significant economies.