• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.417-428
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• 2011

Depending on the plastic deformation capacity required, structural steel design under the current codes can be classified into three categories: elastic, plastic, and seismic design. Most of the current steel codes explicitly forbid the use of a steel material with a yield strength higher than 450 MPa in the plastic design because of the concerns about its low plastic deformation capacity as well as the lack of test data on local and lateral torsional buckling behavior. In this study, flexural tests on full-scale H-shape members built with SM490A (ordinary steel or benchmark material) and HSB800 (high-strength steel) were carried out. The primary objective was to investigate the appropriateness of extrapolating the local buckling criterion of the current codes, which was originally developed for normal-strength steel, to the case of high-strength steel. All the SM490A specimens performed consistently with the current code criteria and exhibited sufficient strength and ductility. The performance of the HSB800 specimens was also very satisfactory from the strength perspective; even the specimens with a noncompact and slender flange developed the plastic moment capacity. The HSB800 specimens, however, showed an inferior plastic rotation capacity due to the premature tensile fracture of the beam bottom flange beneath the vertical stiffener at the loading point. The plastic rotation capacity that was achieved was less than 3 (or the minimum level required for a plastic design). Although the test results in this study indicate that the extrapolation of the current flange local-buckling criterion to the case of high-strength steel is conservative from the elastic design perspective, further testing together with an associated analytical study is required to identify the causes of the tensile fracture and to establish a flange slenderness criterion that is more appropriate for high-strength steel.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.407-418
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• 2014

As a continuing work of previously conducted standard tension tests, full-scale flexural tests were conducted in this study to assess the structural performance the CJP groove welded joints connecting thick HSA800 plates. Two welding electrodes were available at the time of this experimental research; one was GMAW-based electrode A and the other FCAW-based electrode B. Three full-scale box-type beam specimens with single bevel- and V-groove CJP welded joints were fabricated from 60mm and 25mm thick HSA800 plates according to the AWS-prequalified groove welded joint details. In designing the specimens, all possible limit states like local and lateral torsional buckling were carefully controlled in order to induce flexural plastic yielding or eventual joint fracture. All the CJP joints made by both welding electrodes showed satisfactory performance and were able to transfer the tensile flange forces higher than that corresponding to the measured tensile strength of HSA800 flange plates. However, it should be noted that, during fabrication, serious concerns about the welding efficiency and workability of the GMAW-based electrode were raised by a certified welder. The fracture occurred at the unbeveled (or vertical) interface between the weldment and the base metal when the GMAW-based electrode was used in the single-bevel joint, implying the possibility of insufficient melting. Thus, the FCAW-based electrode B is again recommended as the choice of welding electrode for HSA800 plates. The limited test data of this study implies that the V-groove CJP joint should be used in favor of the single bevel CJP joint, if possible.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.519-528
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• 2008

A simple steel-concrete composite deck is developed for preventing the lateral torsional buckling of girders that are under construction and for reducing the term of works using H-shaped rolled beams as bridge girders. A new type of shear connectors is also developed for the composite behavior between a simple steel-concrete composite deck and the rolled beams by the connecting conditions between the deck and the girders. One is a connector bolt that is lengthened and split or tightened with two nuts and the other is an I-shaped rolled beam welded on a steel plate with a number of holes punched through the web. In this study, to estimate the shear strength of those shear connectors the push-out tests are performed and the test results are compared with that of the previous studies and the codes. The result of the push-out tests of the connector bolts showed that the shear performance is similar to that of the stud connector and revealed that the equation for the shear strength in the Korean Specification of Highway Bridge overestimates the shear capacity of the connector bolt whose diameter is larger than 19mm. From the push-out tests of punched I-shaped rolled beams with varying welding amounts, with the small amount of welding, shear capacity is governed by the shear capacity of welding. On the other hand, shear capacity is governed by the size of the punched I-shaped rolled beams, regardless of the amount of welding.