• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.856-865
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• 2003

Current design provisions and guide for performance-based design do not accurately evaluate seismic performance of flat plate system. In the previous companion studies, parametric studies using nonlinear finite element analyses were performed to investigate behavior of the flat plate, and based on the numerical results, design methods that can predict the bending moment-carrying capacity and the corresponding deformability of the flat plate was developed. In the present study, a generalized moment-rotation relation of the flat plate was developed based on the previous studies and the numerical analyses. The proposed method was verified by the comparisons with existing experiments. In addition, the effective stiffness of the flat plate corresponding to 0.2 percent of lateral drift that is generally regarded as the serviceability limit was proposed, so as to evaluate conveniently deflection of the structure subject to wind load.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.306-316
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• 2002

This paper summarizes the results of full-scale cyclic seismic testing on four RBS (reduced beam section) steel moment connections. Key test variables were web bolting vs. welding and strong vs. medium PZ (panel zone) strength. The specimen with medium PZ strength was specially designed to mobilize energy dissipation from both the PZ and RBS region in a balanced way; the aim was to reduce the requirement of expensive doubler plates. Both strong and medium PZ specimens with web-welding were able to provide sufficient connection rotation capacity required of special moment frames, whereas specimens with web-bolting showed inferior performance due to the premature brittle fracture of the beam flange across the weld access hole. In contrast to the case of web-welded specimens, the web-bolted specimens could not transfer the actual plastic moment of the original (or unreduced) beam section to the column. If a quality welding for the beam-to-column joint is made as in this study, the fracture-prone area tends to move into the beam flange base metal within the weld access hole. Analytical study was also conducted to understand the observed base metal fracture from the engineering mechanics point of view.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.71-85
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• 2006

This paper presents the results of a series of tests carried out on cold-formed steel rectangular hollow and concrete infilled beam to column connections and frames. A stub column was chosen such that overall buckling does not influence the connection behaviour. The beam chosen was a short-span cantilever with a concentrated load applied at the free end. The beam was connected to the columns along the strong and weak axes of columns and these connections were tested to failure. Twelve experiments were conducted on cold-formed steel direct welded tubular beam to column connections and twelve experiments on connections with concrete infilled column subjected to monotonic loading. In all the experiments conducted, the stiffness of the connection, the ductility characteristics and the moment rotation behaviour were studied. The dominant mode of failure in hollow section connections was chord face yielding and not weld failure. Provision of concrete infill increases the stiffness and the ultimate moment carrying capacity substantially, irrespective of the axis of loading of the column. Weld failure and bearing failure due to transverse compression occurred in connections with concrete infilled columns. Six single-bay two storied frames both with and without concrete infill, and columns loaded along the major and minor axes were tested to failure. Concentrated load was applied at the midspan of first floor beam. The change in behaviour of the frame due to provision of infill in the column and in the entire frame was compared with hollow frames. Failure of the weld at the junction of the beam occurred for frames with infilled columns. Design expressions are suggested for the yielding of the column face in hollow sections and bearing failure in infilled columns which closely predicted the experimental failure loads.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.53-63
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• 2007

Seismic design codes are developed mainly based on the observation of the behavior of structures in the high seismicity regions where structures may experience significant amount of inelastic deformations and major earthquakes may result in structural damages in a vast area. Therefore, seismic loads are reduced in current design codes for building structures using response modification factors which depend on the ductility capacity and overstrength of a structural system. However, structures in low seismicity regions, subjected to a minor earthquake, will behave almost elastically because of the larger overstrength of structures in low seismicity regions such as Korea. Structures in low seismicity regions may have longer periods since they are designed to smaller seismic loads and main target of design will be minor or moderate earthquakes occurring nearby. Ground accelerations recorded at stations near the epicenter may have somewhat different response spectra from those of distant station records. Therefore, it is necessary to verify if the seismic design methods based on high seismicity would he applicable to low seismicity regions. In this study, the adequacy of design spectra, period estimation and response modification factors are discussed for the seismic design in low seismicity regions. The response modification factors are verified based on the ductility and overstrength of building structures estimated from the farce-displacement relationship. For the same response modification factor, the ductility demand in low seismicity regions may be smaller than that of high seismicity regions because the overstrength of structures may be larger in low seismicity regions. The ductility demands in example structures designed to UBC97 for high, moderate and low seismicity regions were compared. Demands of plastic rotation in connections were much lower in low seismicity regions compared to those of high seismicity regions when the structures are designed with the same response modification factor. Therefore, in low seismicity regions, it would be not required to use connection details with large ductility capacity even for structures designed with a large response modification factor.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.337-347
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• 2011

In this study, seismic resistance of concrete encased U-shaped steel beam-to-steel H-shaped column connections was evaluated. Three specimens of the beam-to-column connection were tested under cyclic loading. The composite beam was integrated with concrete slab using studs. Re-bars for negative moment were placed in the slab. The primary test parameter was the details of the connections, which are strengthening and weakening strategies for the beam end and the degree of composite action. The depth of the composite beams was 600mm including the slab thickness. The steel beam and the re-bars in the slab were weld-connected to the steel column. For the strengthening strategy, cover plates were weld-connected to the bottom and top flanges of the steel beam. For the weakening strategy, a void using styrofoam box was located inside the core concrete at the potential plastic hinge zone. The test results showed that the fully composite specimens exhibited good strength, deformation, and energy dissipation capacities. The deformation capacity of the beam exceeded 4% rotation angle, which is the requirement for the Special Moment Frame.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.307-321
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• 2020

The slim-floor solution provides an efficient alternative to the classic slab-over-beam configuration due to architectural and structural benefits. Two deficiencies can be identified in the current state-of-art: (i) the technique is limited to nonseismic applications and (ii) the lack of information on moment-resisting slim-floor beam-to-column joints. In the seismic design of framed structures, continuous beam-to-column joints are required for plastic hinges to form at the ends of the beams. The present paper proposes a slim-floor technical solution capable of expanding the current application of slim-floor joints to seismic-resistant composite construction. The proposed solution relies on a moment-resisting connection with a thick end-plate and large-diameter bolts, which are used to fulfill the required strength and stiffness characteristics of continuous connections, while maintaining a reduced height of the configuration. Considering the proposed novel solution and the variety of parameters that could affect the behavior of the joint, experimental and numerical validations are compulsory. Consequently, the current paper presents the experimental and numerical investigation of two slim-floor beam-to-column joint assemblies. The results are discussed in terms of moment-rotation curves, available rotational capacity and failure modes. The study focuses on developing reliable slim-floor beam joints that are applicable to steel building frame structures located in seismic regions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.727-745
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• 2018

The design criteria and the corresponding performance levels characterize the response of extended stiffened end-plate beam-to-column joints. In order to guarantee a ductile behavior, hierarchy criteria should be adopted to enforce the plastic deformations in the ductile components of the joint. However, the effectiveness of thesecriteria can be impaired if the actual resistance of the end-plate material largely differs from the design value due to the potential activation of brittle failure modes of the bolt rows (e.g., occurrence of failure mode 3 in the place of mode 1 per bolt row). Also the number and the position of bolt rows directly affect the joint response. The presence of a bolt row in the center of the connection does not improve the strength of the joint under both gravity, wind and seismic loading, but it can modify the damage pattern of ductile connections, reducing the gap opening between the end-plate and the column face. On the other hand, the presence of a central bolt row can influence the capacity of the joint to resist the catenary actions developing under a column loss scenario, thus improving the joint robustness. Aiming at investigating the influence of these features on both the cyclic behavior and the response under column loss, a wide range of finite element analyses (FEAs) were performed and the main results are described and discussed in this paper.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.147-158
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• 2011

The purpose of this research was to analyze the connections of the seismic-performance values for domestic-performance-based designs. Basic research on the performance design method has been increasing of late, along with performance-based organization investigations. These investigations concern the performance level state of steel structure buildings. According to the performance limit state, seismic-performance values should be presented as appropriate steel structure engineering amounts. The first step, based on the full-scale steel structure experiments, involves researching on the making of a basic document. The moment-rotation angle relationship results of the experiment on the moment-frame connection were used to assort the functional and undamaged limits, which were assumed to be less than the yield moment. Moreover, the repairable and safety limits, which were assumed to exist between the yield and maximum moments, were assorted by investigating the accumulated plastic deformation ratio.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.31-37
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• 2002

Recently a simplified design procedure as well as load transfer model for seismic steel moment connections with welded straight haunch have been proposed by Lee and Uang. Cyclic seismic testing was conducted to verify the proposed design procedure and to develop the details that will prevent the cracking at the haunch tip, where stress concentration was the highest. All the specimens thus designed effectively pushed plastic hinging away from the haunch tip and were able to develop satisfactory plastic rotation capacity of 0.04 radian with no fracture. A sloped edge combined with drilling a hole near the haunch tip or a pair of stiffeners(partially or fully) extended from the beam web successfully prevented the crack initiation at the haunch tip. The strut action of the haunch web, which had been predicted from the previous analytical study, was also experimentally identified through the strain gage readings.