• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.365-382
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• 2019

In steel frame-tube structures (SFTSs) the application of flexural beam is not suitable for the beam with span-to-depth ratio lower than five because the plastic hinges at beam-ends can not be developed properly. This can lead to lower ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the SFTS. To address this problem, a replaceable shear link, acting as a ductile fuse at the mid length of deep beams, is proposed. SFTS with replaceable shear links (SFTS-RSLs) dissipate seismic energy through shear deformation of the link. In order to evaluate this proposal, buildings were designed to compare the seismic performance of SFTS-RSLs and SFTSs. Several sub-structures were selected from the design buildings and finite element models (FEMs) were established to study their hysteretic behavior. Static pushover and dynamic analyses were undertaken in comparing seismic performance of the FEMs for each building. The results indicated that the SFTS-RSL and SFTS had similar initial lateral stiffness. Compared with SFTS, SFTS-RSL had lower yield strength and maximum strength, but higher ductility and energy dissipation capacity. During earthquakes, SFTS-RSL had lower interstory drift, maximum base shear force and story shear force compared with the SFTS. Placing a shear link at the beam mid-span did not increase shear lag effects for the structure. The SFTS-RSL concentrates plasticity on the shear link. Other structural components remain elastic during seismic loading. It is expected that the SFTS-RSL will be a reliable dual resistant system. It offers the benefit of being able to repair the structure by replacing damaged shear links after earthquakes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.305-325
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• 2020

Beams of steel frame-tube structures (SFTSs) typically have span-to-depth ratios of less than five. This makes a flexural beam unsuitable for such an application because the plastic hinges at the beam-ends cannot be adequately developed. This leads to lower ductility and energy dissipation capacities of SFTSs. To address this, SFTSs with bolted web-connected replaceable shear links (SFTS-BWSLs) are proposed. In this structural system, a web-connected replaceable shear link with a back-to-back double channel section is placed at the mid-length of the deep beam to act as a ductile fuse. This allows energy from earthquakes to be dissipated through link shear deformation. SFTS and SFTS-BWSL buildings were examined in this study. Several sub-structures were selected from each designed building and finite element models were established to study their respective hysteretic performance. The seismic behavior of each designed building was observed through static and dynamic analyses. The results indicate that the SFTS-BWSL and SFTS have similar initial lateral stiffness and shear leg properties. The SFTS-BWSL had lower strength, but higher ductility and energy dissipation capacities. Compared to the SFTS, the SFTS-BWSL had lower interstory drift, base shear force, and story shear force during earthquakes. This design approach could concentrate plasticity on the shear link while maintaining the residual interstory drift at less than 0.5%. The SFTS-BWSL is a reliable resistant system that can be repaired by replacing shear links damaged due to earthquakes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.827-841
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• 2022

The rotation capacities of the plastic hinges located at beam-ends are significantly reduced in traditional steel framed-tube structures (SFTSs) because of the small span-to-depth ratios of the deep beams, leading to the low ductility and energy dissipation capacities of the SFTSs. High-strength steel framed-tube structures with replaceable shear links (HSSFTS-RSLs) are proposed to address this issue. A replaceable shear link is located at the mid-span of a deep spandrel beam to act as a ductile fuse to dissipate the seismic energy in HSSFTS-RSLs. A 2/3-scaled HSSFTS-RSL specimen with a shear link fabricated of high-strength low-alloy Q355 structural steel was created, and a cyclic loading test was performed to study the hysteresis behaviors of this specimen. The test results were compared to the specimens with soft steel shear links in previous studies to investigate the feasibility of using high-strength low-alloy steel for shear links in HSSFTS-RSLs. The effects of link web stiffener spaces on the cyclic performance of the HSSFTS-RSLs with Q355 steel shear links were investigated based on the nonlinear numerical analysis. The test results indicate that the specimen with a Q355 steel shear link exhibited a reliable and stable seismic performance. If the maximum interstory drift of HSSFTS-RSL is designed lower than 2% under earthquakes, the HSSFTS-RSLs with Q355 steel shear links can have similar seismic performance to the structures with soft steel shear links, even though these shear links have similar shear and flexural strength. For the Q355 steel shear links with web height-to-thickness ratios higher than 30.7 in HSSFTS-RSLs, it is suggested that the maximum intermediate web stiffener space is decreased by 15% from the allowable space for the shear link in AISC341-16 due to the analytical results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.323-339
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• 2020

In steel framed-tube structures (SFTSs), the plastic hinges at beam-ends cannot be adequately improved because of the large cross sections of spandrel beams, which results in the lower ductility and energy dissipation capacities of traditional SFTSs. To address this drawback, high-strength steel fabricated SFTSs with bolted web-connected replaceable shear links (HSFTS-SLs) have been proposed. In this system, shear links use conventional steel and are placed in the middle of the deep spandrel beams to act as energy dissipative components. In this study, 2/3-scaled HSFTS-SL specimens were fabricated, and cyclic loading tests were carried out to study the seismic performance of both specimens. The finite element models (FEMs) of the two specimens were established and the numerical results were compared with the test results. The results showed that the specimens had good ductility and energy dissipation capacities due to the reliable deformation capacities. The specimens presented the expected failure modes. Using a shorter shear link can provide a higher load-carrying capacity and initial elastic lateral stiffness but induces lower ductility and energy dissipation capacity in HSFTS-SLs. The performance of the specimens was comparable to that of the original sub-structure specimens after replacing shear links. Additionally, the expected post-earthquake recoverability and resilience of the structures could be achieved by replacing shear links. The acceptable residual interstory drift that allows for easy replacement of the bolted web-connected shear link was 0.23%. The bolted web-connected shear links had reliable hysteretic responses and deformation capacities. The connection rotation had a notable contribution to total link rotation. The results of the numerical analysis run for the proposed FEMs were consistent with the test results. It showed that the proposed FEMs could be used to investigate the seismic performance of the HSFTS-SL.