• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.739-756
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• 2015

This paper presents investigations on the hysteretic behavior of concrete-filled circular tubular (CFCT) T-joints subjected to axial cyclic loading at brace end. In the experimental study, four specimens are fabricated and tested. The chord members of the tested specimens are filled with concrete along their full length and the braces are hollow section. Failure modes and load-displacement hysteretic curves of all the specimens obtained from experimental tests are given and discussed. Some indicators, in terms of stiffness deterioration, strength deterioration, ductility and energy dissipation, are analyzed to assess the seismic performance of CFCT joints. Test results indicate that the failures are primarily caused by crack cutting through the chord wall, convex deformation on the chord surface near brace/chord intersection and crushing of the core concrete. Hysteretic curves of all the specimens are plump, and no obvious pinching phenomenon is found. The energy dissipation result shows that the inelastic deformation is the main energy dissipation mechanism. It is also found from experimental results that the CFCT joints show clear and steady stiffness deterioration with the increase of displacement after yielding. However, all the specimens do not perform significant strength deterioration before failure. The effect of joint geometric parameters ${\beta}$ and ${\gamma}$ of the four specimens on hysteretic performance is also discussed.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.178-181
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• 2002

This is a partial report of the investigation of fatigue behaviour of hollow section T-joints with circular brace members and rectangular chord members (CRHS). Hot spot stresses and the stress concentration factors (SCFs) were determined experimentally. Fatigue testing was carried out under constant amplitude loading in air. The experimental SCF values for CRHS joints were found to be below those of circular-to-circular (CCHS) and rectangular-to-rectangular (RRHS) hollow section joints. The fatigue strength referred to experimental hot spot stress was in reasonably good agreement with current fatigue design codes for tubular joints.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.107-116
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• 2022

This paper presents results of numerical studies completed on unreinforced and doubler plate reinforced Elliptical Hollow Section (EHS) T-joints subjected to axial compressive loading on the brace member. Non-linear finite element (FE) models were developed using the finite element code, ABAQUS. Available test data in literature was used to validate the FE models. Subsequently, a parametric study was carried out to investigate the effects of various geometrical parameters of main members and reinforcement plates on the ultimate capacity of reinforced EHS T-joints. The parametric study found that the reinforcing plate significantly increases the ultimate capacity of EHS T-joints up to twice the capacity of the corresponding unreinforced joint. The thickness and length of the reinforcing plate have a positive effect on the ultimate capacity of Type 1 joints. This study, however, found that the capacity of Type 1 orientation is not dependent on the brace-to-chord diameter ratio. As for type 2 orientations, the thickness and length of the reinforcement have a minimal effect on the ultimate capacity. A new design method is introduced to predict the capacity of the reinforced EHS T-joints Type 1 and 2 based on the multiple linear regression analyses.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.141-156
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• 2019

This paper presents the flexural behaviour of stainless steel beam-to-tubular column joints with extended endplates subjected to static loading. Moment-rotation relationships were investigated numerically by using Abaqus software with geometric and material nonlinearity considered. The prediction of damages among components was achieved through ductile damage models, and the influence of initial geometric imperfections and residual stresses was evaluated in large fabricated stainless steel joints involving hollow columns and concrete-filled columns. Parametric analysis was subsequently conducted to assess critical factors that could affect the flexural performance significantly in terms of the initial stiffness and moment resistance. A comparison between codes of practice and numerical results was thereafter made, and design recommendations were proposed for further applications. Results suggest that the finite element model can predict the structural behaviour reasonably well with the component damage consistent with test outcomes. Initial geometric imperfections and residual stresses are shown to have little effect on the moment-rotation responses. A series of parameters that can influence the joint behaviour remarkably include the strain-hardening exponents, stainless steel strength, diameter of bolts, thickness of endplates, position of bolts, section of beams and columns. AS/NZS 2327 is more reliable to predict the joint performance regarding the initial stiffness and moment capacity compared to EN 1993-1-8.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.119-129
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• 2015

Due to reduced self weight and alleviated wind effect, the multi-column wind towers that consist of a number of circular tubes as vertical members interconnected with horizontal brace members can be a substitute for the large-scale single cylinder wind towers. It is critical to guarantee strengths of tubular joints where vertical and horizontal members are structurally connected in order to make the whole multi-column system behave as a single tower structure. In this study, strength evaluation has been conducted for T-type tubular joints that are applicable in multi-column towers. Four of available design codes, i.e., AISC, Eurocode3, ISO 19902, CIDECT have been investigated and predictor equations in the considered design codes were validated and discussed through parametric numerical study on slenderness ratios of chords and braces at joints.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.109-128
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• 2010

The expediency of using tubular composite steel and concrete columns of annular cross-sections in construction is discussed. The new type space framework with tubular composite columns of multi-storey buildings and its rigid beam-column joints are demonstrated. The features of interaction between the circular steel tube and spun concrete stress-strain states during the concentrical and eccentrical loading of tubular composite members are considered. The modeling of the bearing capacity of beam-columns of composite annular cross-sections is based on the concepts of bending with a concentrical force and compression with a bending moment. The comparison of modeling results for the composite cross-sections of beam-columns is analysed. The expediency of using these concepts for the limit state verification of beam-columns in the methods of the partial safety factors design (PSFD) legitimated in Europe and the load and resistance factors design (LRFD) used in other countries is presented and illustrated by a numerical example.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.803-818
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• 2020

Semi-rigid connections with blind bolts could solve the difficulty that traditional high strength bolts were unavailable to splice a steel/composite beam to a closed section column. However, insufficient investigations have focused on the performance of semi-rigid connection to square concrete filled double-skin steel tubular (CFDST) columns. In this paper, a component model was developed to evaluate the mechanical behavior of semi-rigid composite connections to CFDST columns considering the stiffness and strength of column face in compression and column web in shear which were determined by the load transfer mechanism and superstition method. Then, experimental investigations on blind bolted composite joints to square CFDST columns were conducted to validate the accuracy of the component model. Dominant failure modes of the connections were analyzed and this type of joint behaved semi-rigid manner. More importantly, strain responses of CFDST column web and tubes verified that stiffness and strength of column face in compression and column web in shear significantly affected the connection mechanical behavior owing to the hollow part of the cross-section for CFDST column. The experimental and analytical results showed that the CFDST column to steel-concrete composite beam semi-rigid joints could be employed for the assembled structures in high intensity seismic regions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.277-298
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• 2019

Concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) column joints with composite beams have been widely used as lateral loading resisting elements in civil infrastructure. To better utilize these innovative joints for the application of structural seismic design and analysis, it is of great importance to investigate the dynamic behavior of the joint under cyclic loading. With this aim in mind, a novel phenomenal model has been put forward in this paper, in which a Bouc-Wen hysteresis component is employed to portray the strength and stiffness deterioration phenomenon caused by increment of loading cycle. Then, a modified chicken swarm optimization algorithm was used to estimate the optimal model parameters via solving a global minimum optimization problem. Finally, the experimental data tested from five specimens subjected to cyclic loadings were used to validate the performance of the proposed model. The results effectively demonstrate that the proposed model is an easy and more realistic tool that can be used for the pre-design of CFST column joints with reduced beam section (RBS) composite beams.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 2019

Considering the increasing use of tubular profiles in civil construction, this paper highlights the study on the behavior of welded connections between square hollow section column and I-beam, with emphasis on the assessment of the joint stiffness. Firstly, a theoretical analysis of the welded joints has been done focusing on prescriptions of the technical literature for the types of geometries mentioned. Then, a numerical analysis of the proposed joints were performed by the finite element method (FEM) with the software ANSYS 16.0. In this study, two models were evaluated for different parameters, such as the thickness of the cross section of the column and the sizes of cross section of the beams. The first model describes a connection in which one beam is connected to the column in a unique bending plane, while the second model describes a connection of two beams to the column in two bending planes. From the numerical results, the bending moment-rotation ($M-{\varphi}$) curve was plotted in order to determine the resistant bending moment and classify each connection according to its rotational capacity. Furthermore, an equation was established with the aim of estimating the rotational stiffness of welded I beam-to-RHS column connections, which can be used during the structure design. The results show that most of the connections are semi-rigid, highlighting the importance of considering the stiffness of the connections in the structure design.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.487-500
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• 2016

In order to investigate the flexural bearing capacity of panel zone of diaphragm-through joint between concrete filled square steel tubular column and steel beam, four specimens were tested under static tension loads to study the mechanical properties and bearing capacity of diaphragm-through joints with a failure mode of panel zone. Finite element models of these specimens were developed to simulate the test and compare the predicted failure modes, load-displacement curves and bearing capacities with the experimentally observed. It was found that the tensile load from the steel beam flange is mainly shared by the square steel tube and the diaphragm. The diaphragm plastic zone appears along the cross-section lines enclosed by the square steel tube and the influence of steel beam web on the plastic zone of the steel tube is significant and cannot be neglected. Computational models of yield lines on square steel tube and diaphragm are established based on the distribution pattern of the plastic zone, and an analytical method for the evaluation of the bearing capacity of the joint is proposed. The theoretical results and the experimental data are compared and found in good agreement.