• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.385-396
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• 2014

Traditionally, domestic steel design and construction practice has provided extra shear studs to moment frame beams even when they are designed as non-composite beams. In the 1994 Northridge earthquake, connection damage initiated from the beam bottom flange side was prevalent. The upward moving of the neutral axis due to the composite action between steel beam and floor deck was speculated to be one of the critical causes. In this study, full-scale seismic testing was conducted to investigate the side effects of the composite action in steel seismic moment frames. The specimen PN700-C, designed following the domestic connection and floor deck details, exhibited significant upward shift of the neutral axis under sagging (or positive) moment, thus producing high strain demand on the bottom flange, and showed a poor seismic performance because of brittle fracture of the beam bottom flange at 3% story drift. The specimen DB700-C, designed by using RBS connection and with the details of minimized floor composite action, exhibited superior seismic performance, without experiencing any fracture or concrete crushing, almost identical to the bare steel counterpart (specimen DB700-NC). The results of this study clearly indicate that the beams and connections in seismic steel moment frames should be constructed to minimize the composite action of a floor deck if possible.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.99-112
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• 2019

Semi-rigid joints have been widely studied in literature in recent decades because they affect greatly the structural response of frames. In literature, the behavior of semi-rigid joints is commonly assumed to be identical under positive and negative moments which are obviously incorrect in many cases where joint details such as bolt arrangement or placement of haunch are vertically asymmetrical. This paper evaluates two common types of steel frames with asymmetrical beam-to-column joints by Direct Analysis allowing for plasticity. A refined design method of steel frames using a proposed simple forth order curved-quartic element with an integrated joint model allowing for asymmetrical geometric joint properties is presented. Furthermore, the ultimate behavior of six types of asymmetrical end-plate connections under positive and negative moment is examined by the Finite Element Method (FEM). The FEM results are further applied to the proposed design method with the curved-quartic element for Direct Analysis of two types of steel frames under dominant gravity or wind load. The ultimate frame behavior under the two different scenarios are examined with respect to their failure modes and considerably different structural performances of the frames were observed when compared with the identical frames designed with the traditional method where symmetrical joints characteristics were assumed. The finding of this research contributes to the design of steel frames as their asymmetrical beam-to-column joints lead to different frame behavior when under positive and negative moment and this aspect should be incorporated in the design and analysis of steel frames. This consideration of asymmetrical joint behavior is recommended to be highlighted in future design codes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.243-264
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• 2008

This paper details a testing facility ("NATURAL FIRE FACILITY") that allows closely-controlled experimental testing on full-scale sub-frames while reproducing the spatially transient temperature conditions measured in real fires. Using this test facility, an experimental investigation of six steel sub-frames under a natural fire was carried out at the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Coimbra. The main objective of these tests was to provide insight into the influence of these connection types on the behaviour of steel sub-structures under fire. The experimental layout is defined by two thermally insulated HEA300 columns and an unprotected IPE300 beam with 5.7 m span, supporting a composite concrete slab. Beam-to-column connections are representative of the most common joint type used on buildings: welded joints and extended, flush and partial depth plate. Finally, the available results are presented and discussed: evolution of the steel temperature; development of displacements and local deformations and failure modes on the joints zone.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.243-250
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• 2004

In SPS system, steel beams are used as not only temporary struts supporting the wale but main flexural members of building. Previous experimental works show that RC wale-steel beam joints have some flexural rigidity. In this paper, nonlinear analysis is performed using DRAIN-2DX program to investigate the behaviors of the underground composite frames constructed with SPS system when the rigidity of RC wale-steel beam joints change. Analysis variables are the procedure of construction, magnitude of lateral forces, and flexural rigidity of the RC wale-steel beam joint with stud connector. Analysis results show the effects of joint rigidity for the yielding process of frame and the moment and deflection at the mid-span of beam.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.547-569
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• 2013

In recent years there has been increasing international interest about designing structures that cost less to repair after they have been subjected to strong earthquakes. Considering this interest, an innovative repairable fuse device has been developed for dissipative beam-to-column connections in moment-resisting composite steel and concrete frames. The seismic performance of the device was assessed through an extensive experimental program comprising ten cyclic and two monotonic tests. These tests were conducted on a single beam-to-column specimen with different fuse devices for each test. The devices varied in terms of the chosen geometric and mechanical parameters. The tests showed that the devices were able to concentrate plasticity and to dissipate large amounts of energy through non-linear behavior. Numerical models were developed with Abaqus and simplified design models are also proposed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.381-397
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• 2021

Based on the spatial substructure hybrid simulation test (SHST) method, the seismic performance of a high-strength steel composite K-eccentrically braced frame (K-HSS-EBF) structure system is studied. First, on the basis of the existing pseudostatic experiments, a numerical model corresponding to the experimental model was established using OpenSees, which mainly simulated the shear effect of the shear links. A three-story and five-span spatial K-HSS-EBF was taken as the prototype, and SHST was performed with a half-scale SHST model. According to the test results, the validity of the SHST model was verified, and the main seismic performance indexes of the experimental substructure under different seismic waves were studied. The results show that the hybrid simulation results are basically consistent with the numerical simulation results of the global structure. The deformation of each story is mainly concentrated in the web of the shear link owing to shear deformation. The maximum interstory drifts of the model structure during Strength Level Earthquake (SLE) and Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) meet the demands of interstory limitations in the Chinese seismic design code of buildings. In conclusion, the seismic response characteristics of the K-HSS-EBFs are successfully simulated using the spatial SHST, which shows that the K-HSS-EBFs have good seismic performance.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.237-252
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• 2023

The article describes the development of a novel dissipative bracing connection device (identified by the acronym DRBrC) for concentrically braced frames in steel and composite structures. The origins of the device trace back to the seminal work of Kelly, Skinner and Heine (1972), and, more directly related, to the PIN-INERD device, overcoming some of its limitations and greatly improving the replaceability characteristics. The connection device is composed of a rigid housing, connected to both the brace and the beam-column connection (or just the column), in which the axial force transfer is achieved by four-point bending of a dissipative pin. The experimental validation stages, presented in detail, consisted of a preliminary testing campaign, resulting in successive improvements of the original device design, followed by a systematic parametric testing campaign. That final campaign was devised to study the influence of the constituent materials (S235 and Stainless Steel, for the pin, and S355 and High Strength Steel, for the housing), of the geometry (four-point bending intermediate spans) and of the loading history (constant amplitude or increasing cyclic alternate). The main conclusions point to the most promising DRBrC device configurations, also presenting some suggestions in terms of the replaceability requirements.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.23-37
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• 2018

In this paper, seismic provisions related to built-up special concentrically braced frames (BSCBFs) are investigated under cyclic loading using non-linear finite element analysis of a single-bay single-story frame. These braces, which contain double angle and double channel brace sections, are considered in two types of single diagonal and X-braced frames. The results of this study show that current seismic provisions such as observing the 0.4 ratio for slenderness ratio of individual elements between stitch connectors are conservative in BSCBFs, and can be increased according to the type of braces. Furthermore, such increments will lead to decreasing or remaining the current middle protected zone requirements of each BSCBFs. Failure results of BSCBFs, which are related to the plastic equivalent strain growth of members and ductility capacity of the models, show that the behaviors of double channel back-to-back diagonal braces are more desirable than those of similar face-to-face ones. Also, for double angle diagonal braces, results show that the failure of back-to-back BSCBFs occurs faster in comparison with face-to-face similar braces. In X-braced frames, cyclic and failure behaviors of built-up face-to-face models are more desirable than similar back-to-back braces in general.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.285-302
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• 2017

Buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) are commonly used as the lateral force-resisting systems in building structures in the seismic regions. The nearly-symmetric hysteretic response and the delayed brace core fracture of buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) under the axial cyclic loading provide the adequate lateral force and deformation capacity to BRBFs under the earthquake excitation. However, the smaller axial stiffness of BRBs result in the undesirable higher residual drift response of BRBFs in the post-earthquake scenario. Two alternative approaches are investigated in this study to improve the elastic axial stiffness of BRBs, namely, (i) by shortening the yielding cores of BRBs; and (ii) by reducing the BRB assemblies and adding the elastic brace segments in series. In order to obtain the limiting yielding core lengths of BRBs, a modified approach based on Coffin-Manson relationship and the higher mode compression buckling criteria has been proposed in this study. Both non-linear static and dynamic analyses are carried out to analytically evaluate the seismic response of BRBFs fitted with short-core BRBs of two medium-rise building frames. Analysis results showed that the proposed brace systems are effective in reducing the inter-story and residual drift response of braced frames without any significant change in the story shear and the displacement ductility demands.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.273-291
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• 2020

Two-storey X-bracings are currently very popular in European practice, as respect to chevron and simple X bracings, owing to the advantages of reducing the bending demand in the brace-intercepted beams in V and inverted-V configurations and optimizing the design of gusset plate connections. However, rules for two-storey X braced frames are not clearly specified within current version of EN1998-1, thus leading to different interpretations of the code by designers. The research presented in this paper is addressed at investigating the seismic behaviour of two-storey X concentrically braced frames in order to revise the design rules within EN1998-1. Therefore, five different design criteria are discussed, and their effectiveness is investigated. With this aim, a comprehensive numerical parametric study is carried out considering a set of planar frames extracted from a set of structural archetypes that are representative of regular low, medium and high-rise buildings. The obtained results show that the proposed design criteria ensure satisfactory seismic performance.