• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.591-601
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• 2018

Non-moment beam-to-column connections, which are usually referred to as simple or shear connections, are typically designed to carry only gravity loads in the form of vertical shears. Although in the analysis of structures these connections are usually assumed to be pinned, they may provide a small amount of rotational stiffness due to the typical connection details. This paper investigates the effects of this small rotational restraint of simple beam-to-column connections on the behavior and seismic response of steel braced non-moment resisting frames. Two types of commonly used simple connections with bolted angles, i.e., the Double Web angle Connection (DWC) and Unstiffened Seat angle Connection (USC) are considered for this purpose. In addition to the pinned condition - as a simplified representation of these connections - more accurate semi-rigid models are established and then applied to some frame models subjected to nonlinear pushover and nonlinear time history analyses. Although the use of bracing elements generally reduces the sensitivity of the global structural response to the behavior of connections, the obtained results indicate considerable effects on the local responses. Namely, our results show that consideration of the real behavior of connections is essential in designing the column elements where the pin-connection assumption significantly underestimates design of outer columns of upper stories.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.453-463
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• 2012

Steel-concrete composite rigid-frame bridge is a type of integral bridge having advantages in bridge maintenance and structural efficiency from eliminating expansion joints and bridge supports, the main problems in bridge maintenance. The typical steel-concrete composite rigid-frame bridge has the girder-abutment connection where a part of its steel girder is embedded in abutment for integrity. However, the detail of typical girder-abutment connection is complex and increases the construction cost, especially when a part of steel girder is embedded. Recently, a new type of bridge was proposed to compensate for the disadvantages of complex details and cost increase. The compensation are expected to improve efficiency of construction by simplifying the construction detail of the girder-abutment connection. In this study, a static load test has been carried out to examine the behavior of the girder-abutment connection using real-scale specimens. The results of the test showed that the girder-abutment connection of proposed girder bridge has sufficient flexural capacity and rebars to control concrete crack should be placed on the top of abutment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.11 no.3 s.40
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• pp.271-279
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• 1999

Recently, studies on semi-rigid beam-to-column connections have been done to develop a T-stub element with separators between column face and T-stub flange. In this paper, inelastic analyses for the improved T-stub element are performed, and their results are compared with existing experimental results. The inelastic analyses using gap elements between column face and the separator, and initial stresses at the high-tension bolts result in good agreement with experimental results. Simplified design methods estimating the initial stiffness and the strength of the semi-rigid connection for compression force are proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.857-879
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• 2013

Numerical damage assessment of Van train station building consisting of three RC blocks due to 2011 Van Earthquakes by nonlinear dynamic analysis is presented. The structural model is created with rigid-end offsets and plastic hinges for nonlinear analysis. Rigid-end offsets are considered for connection areas and proposed for wall-supported elements. In wall-supported elements, walls take place in a limited part of the columns. Nonlinear dynamic analysis of the building with and without rigid-end offsets is performed by using real earthquake records and results are compared. The results show that rigid-end offsets have significant effects on the seismic behavior of the structures.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.473-479
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• 2020

In this study, the structural experiment was conducted with two types of specimens to investigate the mechanical behavior of the column-rafter-purlin connection of an arch-type greenhouse under monotonic loading. Based on the experimental results, the flexural performance was analyzed for two types of connections, and connection classification was attempted. Type B showed 77% of flexural performance compared to Type A, and both types showed that the rigidity and flexural strength did not reach the level of the full rigid. The behavior of the column-rafter-purlin connection was dominated by local buckling due to deformation of the weld and fasteners. As a result of connection classification by AISC standard, both Type A and B connections showed a result that did not meet the rigid connection performance assumed during design, and were classified as simple connection. Therefore, the connection performance evaluation and classification results show that the greenhouse design should be made in consideration of connection performance and in order to design a reliable greenhouse structure, a study on establishing clear design standards for the greenhouse connection is necessary.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.12 no.1 s.44
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• pp.1-8
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• 2000

In this study, the effect of semi-rigid connections on the structural behavior of 20-story braced steel structure has been investigated utilizing the second-order elastic structural analysis program in which nonlinear behavior of beam-column connections and geometric nonlinearity have been considered. Global effects such as P-delta effect and sway at the top have been studied, as well as distribution of member force and combined stress in structural members as local effects. When the structure subjected to horizontal load and vertical load is equipped with lateral-load resisting system such as braces, replacement of shear connection with semi-rigid connection has not caused any problem in P-delta effect and top lateral displacement. Distribution of member forces resulted in reduction in member size for economic structural design.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.4
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• pp.381-394
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• 2019

If an alternative path would not be considered for redistribution of loads, local failure in structures will be followed by a progressive collapse. When a vertical load-bearing element of a steel structure fails, the beams connected to it will lose their support. Accordingly, an increase in span's length adds to the internal forces in beams. The mentioned increasing load in beams leads to amplifying the moments there, and likewise in their corresponding connections. Since it is not possible to reinforce all the elements of the structure against this phenomenon, it seems rational to use other technics like specified strengthened connections. In this study, a novel connection is suggested to handle the stated phenomenon which is introduced as a passive connection. This connection enables the structure to tolerate the added loads after failing of the vertical element. To that end, two experimental models were constructed and thereafter tested in half-scale, one-story, double-bay, and bolted connections in three-dimensional spaces. This experimental study has been conducted to compare the ductility and strength of a frame that has ordinary rigid connections with a frame containing a novel passive connection. At last, parametric studies have been implemented to optimize the dimensions of the passive connection. Results show that the load-bearing capacity of the frame increased up to 75 percent. Also, a significant decrease in the displacement of the node wherein the column is removed was observed compared to the ordinary moment resisting frame with the same loads.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.3
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• pp.309-321
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• 2024

In this paper, the effect of semi-rigid connections on the stability bearing capacity of cross-bracings in steel tubular transmission towers is investigated. Herein, a prediction method based on the hybrid model which is a combination of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and backpropagation neural network (BPNN) is proposed to accurately predict the stability bearing capacity of cross-bracings with semi-rigid connections and to efficiently conduct its probabilistic assessment. Firstly, the establishment of the finite element (FE) model of cross-bracings with semi-rigid connections is developed on the basis of the development of the mechanical model. Then, a dataset of 7425 samples generated by the FE model is used to train and test the PSO-BPNN model, and the accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated. Finally, the probabilistic assessment for the stability bearing capacity of cross-bracings with semi-rigid connections is conducted based on the proposed method and the Monte Carlo simulation, in which the geometric and material properties including the outer diameter and thickness of cross-sections and the yield strength of steel are considered as random variables. The results indicate that the proposed method based on the PSO-BPNN model has high accuracy in predicting the stability bearing capacity of cross-bracings with semi-rigid connections. Meanwhile, the semi-rigid connections could enhance the stability bearing capacity of cross-bracings and the reliability of cross-bracings would significantly increase after considering semi-rigid connections.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.249-258
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• 2012

Integral and rigid frame bridges have advantages in bridge maintenance and structural efficiency by eliminating expansion joints and bridge supports. However, the detail of typical girder-abutment connection is rather complex and increases construction cost depending on construction detail. For the purpose of compensating disadvantages such as complexity and additional cost, a new type of bridge is proposed in this study, which improves the efficiency of construction by simplifying the construction detail of girder-abutment connection. The proposed bridge has the connection detail of steel girder and abutment integrated by prestressed PS bar installed in the connection. In this study, finite element analysis and fatigue load test are conducted to evaluate the fatigue capacity of the proposed girder-abutment connection. The results of the finite element analysis revealed that the possibility of the fatigue damage in the girder-abutment connection is very low. The results of the fatigue load test verified that the integrity of the girder and abutment connection is maintained after 2,000,000 cycles of fatigue loading.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.745-762
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• 2014

As an important part, the connections generally are important for the overall behavior of the structure and the strength and serviceability of the connection should be ensured. This paper presents the mechanical properties of membrane connections in tensioned membrane structure. First, the details of common connections used in the membrane structure are introduced. Then, the common connections including membrane seam, membrane-flexible edge connection and membrane-rigid edge connection are tested and the corresponding failure mechanisms are discussed. Finally, the effects of connection parameters on the connection strength are investigated and proper connection parameters are proposed. The strength reduction factors corresponding to different connection types are proposed, which can be references for the design and analysis of membrane structures.