• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.57-64
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• 1998

This paper presents the cyclic seismic performance of slip-critically designed, high-strength bolted-beam splice in steel moment frame. Before the moment connection reaching its plastic strength, unexpected premature slippage occurred at the slip-critically designed beam splice during the test. The experimentally observed frictional coefficients were as low as about 50% to 60% of nominal (code) value. Nevertheless, the bearing type behavior mobilized after the slippage transferred the increasing cyclic loads successfully, i.e., the consequence of slippage into bearing was not catastrophic to the connection behavior. The test result seems to indicate that the traditional beam splice design basing upon (bolt-hole deducted) effective flange area criterion may not be sufficient in developing the plastic strength of moment connections under severe earthquake loading. New procedure for achieving slip-critical beam splice design is proposed based on capacity design concept.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.81-90
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• 2023

The maximum drifts are important to the seismic evaluation of steel buildings and connections, but the information can hardly be obtained from the post-earthquake field investigation. This research studies the feasibility of using the loss rate of bolt pretension as an earthquake damage predictor. Full-scale tests were made on four steel connections using bolted-web-welded-flange details. One connection was unreinforced (UN), another was reinforced with double shear plates (DS), and the other two used reduced beam sections (RBS). The preinstalled strain gauges were used to control the pretensions and monitor the losses of the high-strength bolts. The results showed that the loss rate of bolt pretension was highly related to the damage of the connections. The pretensions lost up to 10% in all the connections at the yield drifts of 0.5% to 1%. After yielding of the connections, the pretensions lost significantly until fracture occurred. The UN and DS connections failed with a maximum drift of 4 %, and the two RBS connections showed better ductility and failed with a maximum drift of 6%. Under the far-field-type loading protocol, the loss rate grew to 60%. On the contrary, the rate for the specimen under near-fault-type loading protocol was about 40%. The loss rate of bolt pretension is therefore recommended to use as an earthquake damage predictor. Additionally, the 10% and 40% loss rates are recommended to predict the limit states of connection yielding and maximum strength, respectively, and to define the performance levels of serviceability and life-safety for the buildings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.773-791
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• 2023

Connections with damage concentrated to pre-selected components can enhance seismic resilience for moment resisting frames. These pre-selected components always yield early to dissipate energy, and their energy dissipation mechanisms vary from one to another, depending on their position in the connection, geometry configuration details, and mechanical characteristics. This paper presents behaviour insights on two types of beam-to-beam connections that the angles were designed as energy dissipation components, through the results of experimental study and finite element analysis. Firstly, an experimental programme was reviewed, and key responses concerning the working mechanism of the connections were presented, including strain distribution at the critical section, section force responses of essential components, and initial stiffness of test specimens. Subsequently, finite element models of three specimens were established to further interpret their behaviour and response that were not observable in the tests. The moment and shear force transfer paths of the composite connections were clarified through the test results and finite element analysis. It was observed that the bending moment is mainly resisted by axial forces from the components, and the dominant axial force is from the bottom angles; the shear force at the critical section is primarily taken by the slab and the components near the top flange. Lastly, based on the insights on the load transfer path of the composite connections, preliminary design recommendations are proposed. In particular, a resistance requirement, quantified by a moment capacity ratio, was placed on the connections. Design models and equations were also developed for predicting the yield moment resistance and the shear resistance of the connections. A flexible beam model was proposed to quantify the shear resistance of essential components.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.199-206
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• 2012

Unstiffened seated connections (USC) ensure easy installation and safety during erection, thereby making the process more economical. USCs consist of a seat angle for carrying the beam's reactions and a top angle to provide beam stability. These angles are bolted or welded to the beam and supporting member. This paper sought to propose a design table for the weld strength of such connections obtained from the elastic vector method (EVM) and the instantaneous center-of-rotation method (ICM) in terms of calculating the eccentricity. Also, the proposed design table is compared with both AISC and KBC specifications.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.559-571
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• 2018

In current engineering practice, circular concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns have been used as effective structural components due to their significant structural and economic benefits. To apply these structural components into steel-concrete composite moment resisting frames, increasing number of research into the column-base connections of circular CFST columns have been found. However, most of the previous research focused on the strength, rigidity and seismic resisting performance of the circular CFST column-base connections. The present paper attempts to investigate the demountability of bolted circular CFST column-base connections using the finite element method. The developed finite element models take into account the effects of material and geometric nonlinearities; the accuracy of proposed models is validated through comparison against independent experimental results. The mechanical performance of CFST column-base connections with both permanent and demountable design details are compared with the developed finite element models. Parametric studies are further carried out to examine the effects of design parameters on the behaviour of demountable circular CFST column-base connections. Moreover, the initial stiffness and moment capacity of such demountable connections are compared with the existing codes of practice. The comparison results indicate that an improved prediction method of the initial stiffness for these connections should be developed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.467-476
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• 2016

For the connections between modular units in modular buildings, the bolted joints with connector plates are used commonly. The strength of structure is determined by the weakest part of structure and the connections may be weaker than the members being joined. Therefore, to check the safety of modular building, the structural performance of connections between modular units as well as that of beam-to-column connections should be evaluated. In this study, the behavior of module to module connection with straight and cross shaped connector plates is investigated by lateral cyclic tests according to KBC2009 0722.2.4 which shall be conducted by controlling the story drift angle in the width and the longitudinal direction respectively. All of test results generally show the stable ductile behavior up to 0.04rad drift levels and the tests in longitudinal direction show a superior energy dissipation per cycle in each of the load steps. However, the straight shaped connector plates have the degradation of stiffness with cyclic loading and the larger drift angle of column than the cross shaped connector plates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.247-258
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• 2002

The high-temperature material properties of steel are very important to the fire resistance analysis of high-strength bolt connections. This paper reports on the results of the experimental studies on the high-temperature properties of 20 MnTiB steel which is widely used in high-strength bolts, and the friction coefficient of 16Mn steel plates at elevated temperature which is a necessary parameter for bolted frictional connection analysis. The test data includes yield strength, limit strength, modulus of elasticity, elongation and expansion coefficient of 20MnTiB steel at elevated temperature, and the friction coefficients between two 16Mn steel plates under elevated temperatures and after cooling. Based on the data from the tests, the mathematical models for predicting the mechanical properties of 20MnTiB steel and friction coefficients of 16Mn steel plates have been established.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.3 no.3 s.9
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• pp.95-103
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• 2003

Frame is one of the most commonly used structural systems for the resistance of applied loads. Many researchers have recently conducted their studies to investigate the effect of several parameters such as the connection flexibility, boundary condition of each support, beam-to-column stiffness ratio. These parameters play important roles on the characteristic behavior of frames. A simplified spring model is proposed to obtain the story drifts of frames with various beam-to-column connection stiffnesses in this research. A point bracing system with adequate spring stiffness is also suggested to establish the relationship between the applied load and the resisting translational spring stiffness within the limit state of story drift.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.93-115
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• 2012

This paper presents a numerical investigation of the mechanical behaviour of extended end - plate steel connections including comparison with full size experiments. Contact and friction laws have been taken into account with nonlinear, three dimensional finite element analysis. Material and geometric nonlinearities have been implemented to the model, as well. Results are then compared with experimental tests conducted at the Jordan University of Science and Technology. According to the most significant observation of the analysis, a separation of the column flange from the extended end - plate occurs. Other important structural parameters of the connection, like the impact of some column stiffeners on the overall response, local buckling of the column and friction of the beam to column interface, have been examined as well.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.393-416
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• 2011

Hybrid acceleration-impedance sensor nodes on Imote2-platform are designed for damage monitoring in steel girder connections. Thus, the feasibility of the sensor nodes is examined about its performance for vibration-based global monitoring and impedance-based local monitoring in the structural systems. To achieve the objective, the following approaches are implemented. First, a damage monitoring scheme is described in parallel with global vibration-based methods and local impedance-based methods. Second, multi-scale sensor nodes that enable combined acceleration-impedance monitoring are described on the design of hardware components and embedded software to operate. Third, the performances of the multi-scale sensor nodes are experimentally evaluated from damage monitoring in a lab-scaled steel girder with bolted connection joints.