• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.503-513
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• 2007

The seismic responses of a building are affected by the connection characteristics that have effects on structural stiffness. In this study, push-over analysis and time history analysis were performed to estimate structural behavior of 2D eight-story unbraced steel structures with partially restrained composite connections using a nonlinear dynamic analysis program. Nonlinear $M-{\theta}$characteristics of connection and material inelastic characteristics of composite beam and steel column were considered. The idealization of composite semi-rigid connection as fully rigid connection yielded an increase in initial stiffness and ultimate strength in the push-over analysis. In time history analysis, the stiffness and hysteretic behavior of connections have effects on base-shear force, maximum story-drift and maximum moment in beams and columns. For seismic waves with PGA of 0.4 g, the structure with the semi-rigid composite connections shows the maximum story-drift with less than the life safety criteria by FEMA 273 and no inelastic behavior of beam and column, whereas in the structure with rigid connections, beams and columns have experienced inelastic behaviors.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.173-190
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• 2015

This study presents an analytical investigation on the seismic response of a medium-rise buckling-restrained braced frame (BRBF) under the near-fault ground motions. A seven-story BRBF is designed as per the current code provisions for five different combinations of brace configurations and beam-column connections. Two types of brace configurations (i.e., Chevron and Double-X) are considered along with a combination of the moment-resisting and the non-moment-resisting beam-to-column connections for the study frame. Nonlinear dynamic analyses are carried out for all study frames for an ensemble of forty SAC near-fault ground motions. The main parameters evaluated are the interstory and residual drift response, brace displacement ductility, and plastic hinge mechanisms. Fragility curves are developed using log-normal probability density functions for all study frames considering the interstory drift ratio and residual drift ratio as the damage parameters. The average interstory drift response of BRBFs with Double-X brace configurations significantly exceeded the allowable drift limit of 2%. The maximum displacement ductility characteristics of BRBs is efficiently utilized under the seismic loading if these braces are arranged in the Double-X configurations instead of Chevron configurations in BRBFs located in the near-fault regions. However, BRBFs with the Double-X brace configurations exhibit the higher interstory drift and residual drift response under near-fault ground motions due to the formation of plastic hinges in the columns and beams at the intermediate story levels.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.231-242
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• 2018

As a lateral load resisting component, buckling restrained steel plate shear walls (BRW) have excellent energy dissipating capacity. Similar to thin steel plate shear walls, the mechanical behavior of BRWs depends on the boundary elements (adjacent beams and columns) which need adequate strength and stiffness to ensure the complete yielding of BRWs and the emergence of expected plastic collapse mechanism of frame. This paper presents a theoretical approach to estimate the design forces for boundary elements of beam-connected BRW (i.e., The BRW is only connected to beams at its top and bottom, without connections to columns) using a fundamental plastic collapse mechanism of frame, a force transferring model of beam-connected BRW and linear beam and column analysis. Furthermore, the design method of boundary beams and columns is presented. The proposed approach does not involve nonlinear analyses, which can be easily and efficiently used to estimate the design forces of beams and columns in a frame with BRWs. The predicted design forces of boundary elements are compared with those from nonlinear finite element analyses, and a good agreement is achieved.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.3
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• pp.435-443
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• 2020

The objective of this study was to determine the effective compressive strength of a column-slab connection with different compressive strengths between the column and slab concrete. A total of eight column specimens were fabricated, among which four specimens were restrained by slabs while the others did not have any slab, and the test results were compared with current design codes. According to ACI 318, the compressive strength of a column can be used as the effective compressive strength of the column-slab connection in design when the strength ratio of column concrete to slab concrete is less than 1.4. Even in this case, however, this study showed that the effective compressive strength decreased. The specimen with its slab-column connection zone reinforced by steel fibers showed an increased effective compressive strength compared to that of the specimen without the reinforcement, and the interior column specimens restrained with slabs reached the compressive strength of the column.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.35-52
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• 2008

The paper investigates the seismic performance of a Partially-Restrained (PR) steel-concrete composite frame using the probabilistic approach. The analysed frame was tested at the ELSA laboratory of the Joint Research Centre of Ispra (Italy), while the representative beam-to-column composite connections were tested at the Universities of Pisa, Milan and Trento (Italy). The component modelling of both interior and exterior composite joints is described first, including the experimental-numerical validation. The Latin Hypercube method has been used to draw the probabilistic distribution curves of joints, and then the whole PR composite frame has been analysed. Pushover and incremental dynamic analyses have been carried out using the non-linear FE code SAP2000 version 9.1. The fragility and performance curves of the PR composite frame have been determined for four damage limit states.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.309-318
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• 2018

Buckling Restrained Braced (BRB) frames have been widely used as an efficient seismic load resisting system in recent years mostly due to their symmetric and stable hysteretic behavior and significant energy dissipation capacity. In this study, to provide a better understanding of the behavior of BRB frames with various beam-column connections, a numerical study using non-linear finite element (FE) analysis is conducted. All models are implemented in the Abaqus software package following an explicit formulation. Initially, the results of the FE model are verified with experimental data. Then, diverse beam-column connections are modeled for the sake of comparison from the shear capacity, energy dissipation and frame hysteresis behavior points of view until appropriate performance is assessed. The considered connections are divided into three different categories: (1) simple beam-column connections including connection by web angle and connection by seat angle; (2) semi-rigid connection including connection by web and seat angles; and (3) rigid beam-column connections by upper-lower beam plates and beam connections with web and flange splices. Results of the non-linear FE analyses show that these types of beam-column connections have little effect on the maximum story drift and shear capacity of BRB frames. However, the connection type has a significant effect on the amount of energy dissipation and hysteresis behavior of BRB frames. Also, changes in length and thickness of the angles in simple and semi-rigid connections and changes in length and thickness of plates in rigid connections have slight effects (less than 4%) on the overall frame behavior.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.745-757
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• 2018

The inclusion of a ductile steel bracing as means of repairing an earthquake-damaged bridge bent is evaluated and experimentally assessed for the purposes of restoring the damaged bent's strength and stiffness and further improving the energy dissipation capacity. The study is focused on substandard reinforced concrete multi-column bridge bents constructed in the 1950 to mid-1970 in the United States. These types of bents have numerous deficiencies making them susceptible to seismic damage. Large-scale experiments were used on a two-column reinforced concrete bent to impose considerable damage of the bent through increasing amplitude cyclic deformations. The damaged bent was then repaired by installing a ductile fuse steel brace in the form of a buckling-restrained brace in a diagonal configuration between the columns and using post-tensioned rods to strengthen the cap beam. The brace was secured to the bent using steel gusset plate brackets and post-installed adhesive anchors. The repaired bent was then subjected to increasing amplitude cyclic deformations to reassess the bent performance. A subassemblage test of a nominally identical steel brace was also conducted in an effort to quantify and isolate the ductile fuse behavior. The experimental data from these large-scale experiments were analyzed in terms of the hysteretic response, observed damage, internal member loads, as well as the overall stiffness and energy dissipation characteristics. The results of this study demonstrated the effectiveness of utilizing ductile steel bracing for restoring the bent and preventing further damage to the columns and cap beams while also improving the stiffness and energy dissipation characteristics.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.23-36
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• 2004

The inelastic lateral-distortional buckling of doubly-symmetric hot-rolled I-section beam-columns subjected to a concentric axial force and uniform bending with elastic restraint which produce single curvature is investigated in this paper. The numerical model adopted in this paper is an energy-based method which leads to the incremental and iterative solution of a fourth-order eigenproblem, with very rapid solutions being obtained. The elastic restraint considered in this paper is full restraint against translation, but torsional restraint is permitted at the tension flange. Hitherto, a numerical method to analyse the elastic and inelastic lateral-distortional buckling of restrained or unrestrained beam-columns is unavailable. The prediction of the inelastic lateral-distortional buckling load obtained in this study is compared with the inelastic lateral-distortional buckling of restrained beams and the inelastic lateral-torsional buckling solution, by suppressing the out-of-plane web distortion, is published elsewhere and they agree reasonable well. The method is then extended to the lateral-distortional buckling of continuously restrained doubly symmetric I-sections to illustrate the effect of web distortion.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.333-338
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• 1997

This paper describes an experimental study on the crack and fracture behavior of the FRC column. The test were carried out as Fiber contents in the Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete and addition of Polypropylene Fiber in PFRC for evaluate the ability of ductility. In this study, the width and size of crack reduced remarkably and the progress of cracks were restrained by the steel fiber contents increasing, and in the case of PFRC the occurrence of initial crack reduced conspicuously. Accordingly, the addition of steel fiber in Reinforced Concrete Columns considerably prevent an unexpected buckle and rupture, secure durability and stability of columns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.417-433
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• 2023

The maximum ductility and cumulative ductility of connection joints of Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames (BRBF) are critical to the structural overall performance, which should be matched with the BRB ductility. The two-story and one-span BRBF with a one-third scale was tested under cyclic quasi-static loading, and the top-flange beam splice (TFBS) rotational connections were proposed and adopted in BRBF. The deformation capacity of TFBS connections was observed during the test, and the relationship between structural global ductility and local connection ductility was studied. The rotational capacity of the beam-column connections and the stability performance of the BRBs are highly relevant to the structural overall performance. The hysteretic curves of BRBF are stable and full under large displacement demand imposed up to 2% story drift, and energy is dissipated as the large plastic deformation developed in the structural components. The BRBs acted as fuses and yielded first, and the cumulative plastic ductility (CPD) of BRBs is 972.6 of the second floor and 439.7 of the first floor, indicating the excellent energy dissipation capacity of BRBs. Structural members with good local ductility ensure the large global ductility of BRBF. The ductile capacity and hysteretic behavior of BRBF with TFBS connections were compared with those of BRBF with Reduced Beam Section (RBS) connections in terms of the experimental results.