• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.33-46
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• 1999

In spite of 6.8 magnitude and the neighborhood of the epicenter, the steel moment frame survived after Northridge earthquake without collapse or casualties. However, following investigation revealed that there were severe damages at the column-weld interface of welded flange-bolted web (WFBW) steel moment connection, which was believed to be economic and safe from earthquakes based on experience and past tests. In this paper, this unexpected brittle fracture of the steel moment connection is explored using linear elastic fracture mechanics and post-Northridge tests. A method to predict the brittle fracture strength of the steel moment connection is proposed. Using this method, the failure mode of the WFBW connection and reduced beam section (RBS) connection are presented.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.353-360
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• 2018

This paper is to investigate the micro-behavior of the double-span beams with WUF-W seismic connection under combined axial tension and moment and to propose the rational rotational capacity of it for progressive collapse-resistant analysis and design addressing the stress and strain transfer mechanism. To this end, the behavior of the double-span beams under the column missing event is first investigated using the advanced nonlinear finite element analysis. The characteristics of fracture indices of double-span beams with WUF-W connection under combined axial tension and flexural moment are addressed and then proposed the rational rotational capacity as the basic datum for the progressive collapse-resistant design and analysis. The distribution of fracture indices related to stress and strain for the double-span beams is investigated based on a material and geometric nonlinear finite element analysis. Furthermore, the micro-behavior for earthquake and progressive collapse is explicitly different.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.557-566
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• 2002

This paper summarized the results of a full-scale cyclic seismic testing on four reduced beam section (RBS) steel moment connections. Specifically, these tests addressed a bolted web versus a welded web connection and strong versus medium panel zone (PZ) strength as key test variables. Specimens with medium PZ strength were designed to promote balanced energy dissipation from both PZ and RBS regions, in order to reduce the requirement for expensive doubler plates. Both strong and medium PZ specimens with welded web connection were able to provide sufficient connection rotation capacity required of special moment-resisting frames. On the other hand, specimens with bolted web connection performed poorly due to premature brittle fracture of the beam flange at the weld access hole. Unlike the case of web-welded specimens, specimens with cheaper bolted web connection could not transfer the actual plastic moment of the original (or unreduced) beam section to the column. No fracture occurred within the beam groove welds of any connection in this testing program. If fracture within the beam flange groove weld is avoided by using quality welding procedure as in this study, the fracture issue tends to move into the beam flange base metal at the weld access hole. Supporting analytical study was also conducted in order to understand the observed base metal fracture from the engineering mechanics perspective.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.337-353
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• 2018

In previous weak-axis moment connection tests, brittle fracture always initiated near the edge of the beam flange groove weld due to force flow towards the stiffer column flanges, which is the opposite pattern as strong-axis moment connections. As part of the China NSFC (51278061) study, this paper tested two full-scale novel weak-axis reduced beam section moment connections, including one exterior frame connection specimen SJ-1 under beam end monotonic loading and one interior frame joint specimen SJ-2 under column top cyclic loading. Test results showed that these two specimens were able to satisfy the demands of FEMA-267 (1995) or ANSI/AISC 341-10 (2010) without experiencing brittle fracture. A parametric analysis using the finite element software ABAQUS was carried out to better understand the cyclic performance of the novel weak-axis reduced beam section moment connections, and the influence of the distance between skin plate and reduced beam section, a, the length of the reduced beam section, b, and the cutting depth of the reduced beam section, c, on the cyclic performance was analyzed. It was found that increasing three parametric values reasonably is beneficial to forming beam plastic hinges, and increasing the parameter a is conducive to reducing stress concentration of beam flange groove welds while increasing the parameters b and c can only reduce the peak stress of beam flange groove welds. The rules recommended by FEMA350 (2000) are suitable for designing the proposed weak-axis RBS moment connection, and a proven calculation formulation is given to determine the thickness of skin plate, the key components in the proposed weak-axis connections. Based on the experimental and numerical results, a design procedure for the proposed weak-axis RBS moment connections was developed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.35-54
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• 2015

The performance of a newly generated steel connection known as SidePlateTM moment connection for seismic loading and progressive collapse phenomenon has been investigated in this paper. The seismic evaluation portion of the study included a thorough study on of interstory drift angles and flexural strengths based on 2010 AISC Seismic Provisions while the acceptance criteria provided in UFC 4-023-03 guideline to resist progressive collapse must be satisfied by the rotational capacity of the connections. The results showed that the SidePlate moment connection was capable of attaining adequate rotational capacity and developing full inelastic capacity of the connecting beam. Moreover, the proposed connection demonstrated an exceptional performance for keeping away the plastic hinges from the connection and exceeding interstory drift angle of 0.06 rad with no fracture developments in beam flange groove-welded joints. The test results indicated that this type of connection had strength, stiffness and ductility to be categorized as a rigid, full-strength and ductile connection.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.507-518
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• 2013

The seismic performance of six types of weak-axis steel moment connections was investigated through cyclic testing of six full-scale specimens. These weak-axis moment connections were the column-tree type, WUF-B type, FF-W type, WFP type, BFP-B type and DST type weak-axis connections. The testing results showed that each of these weak-axis connection types achieved excellent seismic performance, except the WFP and the WUF-B types. The WFP and WUF-B connections displayed poor seismic performance because a fracture appeared prematurely at the weld joint due to stress concentrations. The column-tree type connection showed the best seismic behavior such that the story drift ratio could reach 5%.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.17 no.6 s.79
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• pp.689-697
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• 2005

Recent test results on reduced beam section (RBS) steel moment connections show that specimens with a bolted web connection tend to perform poorly due to premature brittle fracture of the beam flange at the weld access hole. A review of previous test results indicates that the higher incidence of base metal fracture in bolted-web specimens is related, at least in part, to the web bolt slippage and the high stress concentration at the weld access hole with the lowest material toughness. The practice of providing web bolts uniformly along the beam depth based on the classical beam theory is questioned in this paper. A new seismic design procedure, which is more consistent with the actual load path identified from the analytical and experimental studies, is proposed together with improved connection details. A test specimen designed following the proposed procedure exhibited a cyclic connection rotation capacity sufficient for special moment frames without fracture.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.69-77
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• 2003

This paper presents test results on eight reduced beam section(RBS) steel moment connections. The testing program addressed bolted versus welded web connection and panel zone(PZ) strength as key variables, Specimens with medium PZ strength were designed to promote energy dissipation from both PZ and RBS regions such that the requirement for expensive doublet plates could be reduced. Both strong and medium PZ specimens with a welded web connection were able to provide satisfactory connection rotation capacity for special moment-resisting frames. On the other hand, specimens with a bolted web connection performed poorly due to premature brittle fracture of the beam flange of the weld access hole. If fracture within the beam flange groove weld was avoided using quality welding, the fracture tended to move into the beam flange base metal of the weld access hole. Plausible explanation of a higher incidence of base metal fracture in bolted web specimens was presented. The measured strain data confirmed that the classical beam theory dose not provide reliable shear transfer prediction in the connection. The practice of providing web bolts uniformly along the beam depth was brought into question. Criteria for a balanced PZ strength improves the plastic rotation capacity while reduces the amount of beam distortion ore also proposed.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.193-203
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• 2022

In this study, in order to compare the seismic performance of steel structure beam-column connection details and non-scallop connection details mainly used in Korea, a full-scale static cyclic loading test and FEM analysis were conducted through the same modeling as the experiment. For quantitative numerical comparison, the strain concentration ratio and moment transfer efficiency used in previous studies were cited. As the welding area of the beam web decreased, the deformation rate of the beam flange increased, and the plastic deformation capacity according to the rotation angle decreased or brittle fracture occurred. Comparing the analysis results with the experimental results, the possibility of brittle fracture tended to increase when the web welding ratio for the total cross-sectional area of H-shaped fell below 60%.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.617-630
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• 2010

Different types of moment resisting connections are commonly used to transfer the induced seismic moments between frame elements in an earthquake resisting structure. The local connection behavior may drastically affect the global seismic response of the structure. In this study, the finite element and experimental seismic investigations are implemented on two frequently used connection type to evaluate the local behavior and to reveal the failure modes. An alternative connection type is then proposed to eliminate the unfavorable brittle fracture modes resulted from probable poor welding quality. This will develop a reliable predefined ductile plastic mechanism forming away from the critical locations. Employing this technique, the structural reliability of the moment resisting connections shall be improved by achieving a controllable energy dissipation source in form of yielding of the cover plates.