• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.5
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• pp.619-632
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• 2022

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures may be subjected to sudden dynamic impact loads such as explosions occurring for different reasons, the collision of masses driven by rockfall, flood, landslide, and avalanche effect structural members, the crash of vehicles to the highway and seaway structures. Many analytical, numerical, and experimental studies focused on the behavior of RC structural elements such as columns, beams, and slabs under sudden dynamic impact loads. However, there is no comprehensive study on the behavior of the RC column-beam connections under the effect of sudden dynamic impact loads. For this purpose, an experimental study was performed to investigate the behavior of RC column-beam connections under the effect of low-velocity impact loads. Sixteen RC beam-column connections with a scale of 1/3 were manufactured and tested under impact load using the drop-weight test setup. The concrete compressive strength, shear reinforcement spacing in the beam, and input impact energy applied to test specimens were taken as experimental variables. The time histories of impact load acting on test specimens, accelerations, and displacements measured from the test specimens were recorded in experiments. Besides, shear and bending crack widths were measured. The effect of experimental variables on the impact behavior of RC beam-column connections has been determined and interpreted in detail. Besides, a finite element model has been established for verification and comparison of the experimental results by using ABAQUS software. It has been demonstrated that concrete strength, shear reinforcement ratio, and impact energy significantly affect the impact behavior of RC column-beam connections.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.101-118
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• 2022

The seismic performance of the reinforced concrete (RC) special-shaped column to steel beam connections with steel jacket used in the RC column to steel beam fabricated frame structures was investigated in this study. The three full-scale specimens were subjected to cyclic loading. The failure mode, ultimate bearing capacity, shear strength capacity, stiffness degradation, energy dissipation capacity, and strain distribution of the specimens were studied by varying the steel jacket thickness parameters. Test results indicate that the RC special-shaped column to steel beam connection with steel jacket is reliable and has excellent seismic performance. The hysteresis curve is full and has excellent energy dissipation capacity. The thickness of the steel jacket is an important parameter affecting the seismic performance of the proposed connections, and the shear strength capacity, ductility, and initial stiffness of the specimens improve with the increase in the thickness of the steel jacket. The calculation formula for the shear strength capacity of RC special-shaped column to steel beam connections with steel jacket is proposed on the basis of the experimental results and numerical simulation analysis. The theoretical values of the formula are in good agreement with the experimental values.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.767-778
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate how a fully restrained bolted beam splice affects the connection behavior as a column-tree connection in steel special moment frames under cyclic loading when located within the plastic hinge zone. The impacts of this attachment in protected zone are observed by using nonlinear finite element analyses. This type of splice connection is designed as slip-critical connection and thereby, the possible effects of slippage of the bolts due to a possible loss of pretension in the bolts are also investigated. The 3D models with solid elements that have been developed includes three types of connections which are the connection having fully restrained beam splice located in the plastic hinge location, the connection having fully restrained beam splice located out of the plastic hinge and the connection without beam splice. All connection models satisfied the requirement for the special moment frame connections providing sufficient flexural resistance, determined at column face stated in AISC 341-16. In the connection model having fully restrained beam splice located in the plastic hinge, due to the pretension loss in the bolts, the friction force on the contact surfaces is exceeded, resulting in a relative slip. The reduction in the energy dissipation capacity of the connection is observed to be insignificant. The possibility of the crack occurrence around the bolt holes closest to the column face is found to be higher for the splice connection within the protected zone.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.1291-1314
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• 2016

The paper presents the development of experimental fragility functions for exterior RC beam-column connections based on results obtained from extensive testing carried out in the present study. Three typical types of seismically deficient beam-column connections, which are commonly prevalent in Indian sub-continent, were considered. These specimens were tested under cyclic displacement histories with different characteristics to induce different damage states. Rehabilitation specific fragility functions for damaged specimens were developed considering drift angle as a demand parameter. Four probability distributions were fit to the data and suitability of each distribution was evaluated using standard statistical method. Specimens with different damage states were rehabilitated appropriately and rehabilitated specimens were tested under similar displacement histories. Fragility functions for rehabilitated specimens have also been developed following similar procedure. Comparison of fragility functions for both original and rehabilitated specimens for each rehabilitation method showed close agreement, which establishes the effectiveness of the adopted rehabilitation strategies and hence would provide confidence in field application.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.687-704
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• 2014

A great number of moment-resisting steel structures collapsed due to ductile crack initiation at welded beam-column connections, followed by explosive brittle fracture in the Kobe (Hyogoken-Nanbu) earthquake in 1995. A series of experimental and numerical studies on cracking behaviors of beam-column connections in steel bridge piers were carried out by the authors' team. This paper aims to study the effect of post weld treatment on cracking behaviors of the connections during a strong earthquake event. Experiments of three specimens with different weld finishes, i.e., as-welded, R-finish, and burr grinding, were conducted. The experimental results indicate that the instants of ductile crack initiation are greatly delayed for the specimens with R-finish and burr grinding finishes compared with the as-welded one. The strain concentration effect in the connection is also greatly reduced in the specimens with post weld treatment compared with the as-welded one, which was also verified in the tests.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.61-70
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• 1999

Cracking was observed in beam-to-column connections of many steel building frames during the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Kobe earthquakes. Thus extensive experimental researches are currently being conducted to improve the seismic performance of steel frames. A value of 0.015 radian was considered as a reasonable estimate of beam plastic rotation demand in steel moment-resisting frames subjected to severe earthquakes. The objective of this research is to develop a type of connection detail which moves the plastic hinge region in the beam away from the face of the column and can prevent cracking at the welded flange of the beam-to-column connection under seismic loading. An experimental investigation was undertaken on five beam-to-column connection specimens to study the performance of the connections with proposed details. The experiemental results showed that the flexural strength and rotational ductility of the beam connections were adequate for the seismic resistance steel frames to prevent possible cracks at the connections.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.343-362
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• 2018

A simplified spring connection modelling approach for steel flush endplate beam-to-column connections in fire has been developed to enable realistic behaviour of connections to be incorporated into full-scale frame analyses at elevated temperature. Due to its simplicity and reliability, the proposed approach permits full-scale high-temperature frame analysis to be conducted without high computational cost. The proposed simplified spring connection modelling approach has been used to investigate the influence of connection ductility (both axial and rotational) on frame behaviour in fire. 2D steel and 3D composite frames with a range of beam spans were modelled to aid the understanding of the differences in frame response in fire where the beam-to-column connections have different axial and rotational ductility assumptions. The modelling results highlight that adopting the conventional rigid or pinned connection assumptions does not permit the axial forces acting on the connections to be accurately predicted, since the axial ductility of the connection is completely neglected when the rotational ductility is either fully restrained or free. By accounting for realistic axial and rotational ductilities of beam-to-column connections, the frame response in fire can be predicted more accurately, which is advantageous in performance-based structural fire engineering design.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.16 no.5 s.72
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• pp.695-703
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• 2004

In this paper, the results of monotonic loading analysis with four steel models and one composite model were shown. The effect that moment transfer efficiency of a web and strain concentration at a steel beam-to-column connections was investigated. Analysis results showed that the moment transfer efficiency of the analytical model with box-column was poor when comparing to model with H-column due to out-of-plane deformation of the box-column flange. The presence of scallop, thin plate of box column and floor slabs was also a reason of the decrease of moment transfer efficiency, which would result in a potential fracture of the steel beam-to-column connections. Analytical results were compared with experimental results based on previous test. As a result, the deformation capacity of connections with a box-column or a floor slab decreased due to the poor moment transfer efficiency and the strain concentration of beam flange in the vicinity of the steel beam-to-column connections based on the experimental data.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 2017

In this study, we propose a new equation that evaluates the shear strength of beam-column connections in reinforced concrete and steel beam (RCS) composite materials. This equation encompasses the effect of shear keys, extended face bearing plates (E-FBP), and transverse beams on connection shear strength, as well as the contribution of cover plates. Mobilization coefficients for beam-column connections in the RCS composite system are suggested. The proposed model, validated by statistical analysis, provided the strongest correlation with test results for connections containing both E-FBP and transverse beams. Additionally, our results indicated that Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) and Modified AIJ (M-AIJ) equations should be used carefully to evaluate the shear strength for connections that do not have E-FBP or transverse beams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.5
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• pp.639-647
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• 2019

The performance of precast concrete structures is greatly influenced by the behaviour of beam-to-column connections. A single connection may be required to transfer several loads simultaneously so each one of those loads must be considered in the design. A good connection combines practicality and economy, which requires an understanding of several factors; including strength, serviceability, erection and economics. This research work focuses on the performance aspect of a specific type of beam-to-column connection using partly hidden corbel in precast concrete structures. In this study, the results of experimental assessment of the proposed beam-to-column connection in precast concrete frames was used. The purpose of this research is to develop and apply the Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) for moment-rotation prediction of precast beam-to-column connections. The ELM results are compared with genetic programming (GP) and artificial neural network (ANN). The reliability of the computational models was accessed based on simulation results and using several statistical indicators.