• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.77-94
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• 2004

Steel beam-to-column joints are often subjected to a combination of bending and axial forces. The level of axial forces in the joint may be significant, typical of pitched-roof portal frames, sway frames or frames with incomplete floors. Current specifications for steel joints do not take into account the presence of axial forces (tension and/or compression) in the joints. A single empirical limitation of 10% of the beam's plastic axial capacity is the only enforced provision in Annex J of Eurocode 3. The objective of the present paper is to describe some experimental and numerical work carried out at the University of Coimbra to try to extend the philosophy of the component method to deal with the combined action bending moment and axial force.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.801-813
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• 2015

Flexural stiffness of bridge spans has become even more important parameter since Eurocode 1 introduced for railway bridges the serviceability limit state of resonance. For simply supported bridge spans it relies, in general, on accurate assessment of span moment of inertia that governs span flexural stiffness. The paper presents three methods of estimation of the equivalent moment of inertia for such spans: experimental, analytical and numerical. Test loading of the twin truss bridge spans and test results are presented. Recorded displacements and the method of least squares are used to find an "experimental" moment of inertia. Then it is computed according to the analytical method that accounts for joint action of truss girders and composite deck as well as limited span shear stiffness provided by diagonal bracing. Finally a 3D model of finite element method is created to assess the moment of inertia. Discussion of results is given. The comparative analysis proves efficiency of the analytical method.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.45-55
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• 2017

Stainless steel exhibits high ductility and strain hardening capacity in comparison with carbon steel widely used in constructions. To analyze the particular behaviour of stainless steel cover-plate joints, an experimental study was conducted. It showed large ductility and complex failure modes of the joints. A non-linear finite element model was developed to predict the main parameters influencing the behaviour of these joints. The results of this deterministic model allow us to built a meta-model by using the quadratic response surface method, in order to allow for efficient reliability analysis. This analysis is then applied to the assessment of design formulae in the currently used codes of practice. The reliability analysis has shown that the stainless steel joint design according to Eurocodes leads to much lower failure probabilities than the Eurocodes target reliability for carbon steel, which incites revising the resisting model evaluation and consequently reducing stainless steel joint costs. This approach can be used as a basis to evaluate a wide range of steel joints involving complex failure modes, particularly bearing failure.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1470-1481
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• 2018

Building-level response to post-earthquake fire hazards in steel buildings has been assessed using primarily two-dimensional analyses of the lateral force resisting system. This approach may not adequately consider potential vulnerabilities in the gravity framing system. For this reason, three-dimensional (3D) finite element models of a 10-story case study building with perimeter moment resisting frames were developed to analyze post-earthquake fire events and better understand building response. Earthquakes are simulated using ground motion time histories, while Eurocode parametric time-temperature curves are used to represent compartment fires. Incremental dynamic analysis and incremental fire analysis procedures capture a range of hazard intensities. Findings show that the structural response due to earthquake and fire hazards are somewhat decoupled from one another. Regardless of the level of plastic hinging present in the moment framing system due to a seismic event, gravity column failure is the initiating failure mode in a fire event.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.35-43
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• 2016

In order to understand rotation behavior of high strength steel endplate connections under fire, this study is compared with existing studies conducted using FEA program. Eurocode 3 presents the three failure modes according to the prediction of bending resistance moment. The parameters of analysis model are temperature, thickness and steel materials of endplate. The rotation stiffness, and bending resistance moment are analyzed according to the parameters. The change of rotation stiffness and bending resistance moment are analyzed about the parameters, regression equations are suggested the change of high strength steel endplate connections. Consequently, the regression equations were proposed as the linear and quadratic equation. The moment ratio of high strength steel under fire was more reduced than the carbon steel, and was small effect about the thickness. When the high strength steel under fire was compared with at ambient temperature, the slope of initial rotation stiffness reduced, the increment ratio of moment was slow, and the change of plastic rotation stiffness wasn't effect by the thickness increase.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.3_4
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• pp.611-628
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• 2012

The inelastic earthquake response of existing, reinforced concrete buildings with an open ground story, designed according to the old Greek codes, is investigated before and after their seismic strengthening with steel braces restricted to the open ground stories. The seismic performance evaluation is based on Part 3 of Eurocode 8 for assessment and retrofitting of buildings. Three and five-story, symmetric and non-symmetric buildings are subjected to a set of seven pairs of synthetic accelerograms, compatible with the design spectrum, and conclusions are drawn regarding the effectiveness of the strengthening solutions. Seismic behavior of the selected models confirms results of previous work regarding the insufficient capacity of the open ground stories for design level earthquakes. It is also shown that strengthening only the weak ground story, a choice having the substantial advantage of low cost and continued usage of the building during its seismic retrofitting, can remove the inherent weakness without shifting the problem to the stories above and thus making such buildings at least as strong as those without a weak first story. This partial strengthening is possible for symmetric as well as eccentric buildings, in which torsion plays a further detrimental role.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2014

Ultra-high strength concrete and high tensile steel are becoming very attractive materials for high-rise buildings because of the need to reduce member size and structural self-weight. However, limited test data and design guidelines are available to support the applications of high strength materials for building constructions. This paper presents significant findings from comprehensive experimental investigations on the behaviour of tubular columns in-filled with ultra-high strength concrete at ambient and elevated temperatures. A series of tests was conducted to investigate the basic mechanical properties of the high strength materials, and structural behaviour of stub columns under concentric compression, beams under moment and slender beam-columns under concentric and eccentric compression. High tensile steel with yield strength up to 780 MPa and ultra-high strength concrete with compressive cylinder strength up to 180 MPa were used to construct the test specimens. The test results were compared with the predictions using a modified Eurocode 4 approach. In addition, more than 2000 test data samples collected from literature on concrete filled steel tubes with normal and high strength materials were also analysed to formulate the design guide for implementation in practice.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.81-92
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• 2013

The ultimate flexural strength of HSB I-girders, considering the effect of local bucking, was investigated through a series of nonlinear finite element analysis. The girders were selected such that the inelastic local flange buckling or the plastic yielding of compression flanges governs the flexural strength. Both homogeneous sections fabricated from HSB600 or HSB800 steel and hybrid sections with HSB800 flanges and SM570-TMC web were considered. In the FE analysis, the flanges and web were modeled using thin shell elements and initial imperfections and residual stresses were imposed on the FE model. An elasto-plastic strain hardening material was used for steels. After establishing the validity of present FE analysis by comparing FE results with test results published in the literature, the effects of initial imperfection and residual stress on the inelastic flange local buckling behavior were assessed. The ultimate flexural strengths of 60 I-girders with various compression flange slenderness were obtained by FE analysis and compared with those calculated from the KHBDC, AASHTO LRFD and Eurocode 3 provisions. Based on the comparison, the applicability of design equations in these specifications for the flexural strength of I-girder considering flange local buckling was evaluated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.119-132
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• 2014

In this paper, a series of numerical analyses were performed to evaluate the flexural resistance of steel plate girder with longitudinally stiffened and slender web. The SM490 steel was adopted for the study and the flexural resistances evaluated from the numerical analysis were compared with those suggested by the AASHTO LRFD and the Eurocode 3 codes, respectively. It was found that the AASHTO LRFD code could considerably underestimate the flexural resistance as the web slenderness becomes smaller. This comes from the fact that current AASHTO LRFD code does not consider a possible increase of slenderness limits for compact and noncompct web, and also an additional effect of web restraint on the rotation of compression flange in longitudinally stiffened web. Therefore, the slenderness limits of web and flange have been newly proposed for the plate girders with longitudinally stiffened web and it is analytically verified that the flexural resistance can be appropriately estimated by applying the proposed slenderness limits to the AASHTO LRFD code.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.585-596
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• 2009

In the construction of end-plate connections, the end-plate is welded to the end of the beam in a factory and fastened by bolts in the field. This connection is widely used in advanced countries such as European countries and the U.S. Its design and connection details are prescribed in Eurocode 3, AISC LRFD, and FEMA 350. In Korea, the standards for seismic design in KBC 2005 have been reinforced based on IBC 2000 in the U.S., and it is expected that the connection details in the U.S. will be adopted for the establishment of beam-to-column design standards. In the U.S. thick end-plates are used for the connections to prevent beam rupture. The use of the connections in Korea, however, may lead toover-design. In this experimental study, the design standards for the end-plate connections provided by FEMA-350 were analyzed and structural tests for six specimens were conducted with the variables being the shim plate and the connection shape, to provide the best specifications for connections with plastic deformation in the end-plate for use in Korea.