• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.35-54
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• 2015

The performance of a newly generated steel connection known as SidePlateTM moment connection for seismic loading and progressive collapse phenomenon has been investigated in this paper. The seismic evaluation portion of the study included a thorough study on of interstory drift angles and flexural strengths based on 2010 AISC Seismic Provisions while the acceptance criteria provided in UFC 4-023-03 guideline to resist progressive collapse must be satisfied by the rotational capacity of the connections. The results showed that the SidePlate moment connection was capable of attaining adequate rotational capacity and developing full inelastic capacity of the connecting beam. Moreover, the proposed connection demonstrated an exceptional performance for keeping away the plastic hinges from the connection and exceeding interstory drift angle of 0.06 rad with no fracture developments in beam flange groove-welded joints. The test results indicated that this type of connection had strength, stiffness and ductility to be categorized as a rigid, full-strength and ductile connection.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.353-370
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• 2020

This paper describes a new type of replaceable fuse for moment resisting frames. Column-tree connections with beam splice connections are frequently preferred in the moment resisting frames since they eliminate field welding and provide good quality. In the column-tree connections, a part of the beam is welded to the column in the shop and the rest of the beam is bolted with the splice connection in the field. In this study, a replaceable reduced beam section (R-RBS) connection is proposed in order to eliminate welding process and facilitate assembly at the site. In the proposed R-RBS connection, one end is connected by a beam splice connection to the beam and the other end is connected by a bolted end-plate connection to the column. More importantly is that the proposed R-RBS connection allows the replacement of the damaged R-RBS easily right after an earthquake. Pursuant to this goal, experimental and numerical studies have been undertaken to investigate the performance of the R-RBS connection. An experimental study on the RBS connection was used to substantiate the numerical model using ABAQUS, a commercially available finite element software. Additionally, five different finite element models were developed to conduct a parametric study. The results of the analysis were compared in terms of the moment and energy absorption capacities, PEEQ, rupture and tri-axiality indexes. The design process as well as the optimum dimensions of the R-RBS connections are presented. It was also demonstrated that the proposed R-RBS connection satisfies AISC criteria based on the nonlinear finite element analysis results.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.271-280
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• 2010

This study was programmed to fabricate a beam-to-column connection that is limited to a steel-welded moment connection with full-scale members, using SN steel. A cyclic seismic test was conducted of the nine specimens that were fabricated by choosing the test variable for the weld access hole geometry, connection design method, and RBS. From the test results, failure modes, the moment-drift behavior, and the strain distribution were provided. From the specimen material properties, the beam's nominal plastic flexural capacity and classified qualified connection as a special moment flame were calculated. By analyzing the skeleton part and the baushinger part, a range of strength-raising effects, and deformation ratios were provided, with which the seismic performance of the specimens were evaluated. The test results showed that the specimens eliminated their weld access holes that demonstrated higher seismic performance than the specimens' existing weld access holes, and that the WUF-W connection that was reinforced by the supplemental fillet weld around the shear tap that was fastened by five bolts demonstrated superior seismic performance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.303-310
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• 2017

The welded unreinforced flange-welded web(WUF-W) connection is an all-welded moment connection, which is qualified for special moment frame(SMF) connections. However, previous studies reported that some WUF-W connections did not meet the drift requirement specified for SMF connections and such unexpected connection performance was resulted from weld access hole geometry. The objective of this study is to determine the permissible ranges of major access hole parameters such as access hole slope and the length of flat portion that lead to the satisfactory performance of WUF-W connections using Nonlinear finite element analyses are conducted. This study also proposes simple empirical equations to check the validity of access hole parameters to be selected in design process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.557-566
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• 2002

This paper summarized the results of a full-scale cyclic seismic testing on four reduced beam section (RBS) steel moment connections. Specifically, these tests addressed a bolted web versus a welded web connection and strong versus medium panel zone (PZ) strength as key test variables. Specimens with medium PZ strength were designed to promote balanced energy dissipation from both PZ and RBS regions, in order to reduce the requirement for expensive doubler plates. Both strong and medium PZ specimens with welded web connection were able to provide sufficient connection rotation capacity required of special moment-resisting frames. On the other hand, specimens with bolted web connection performed poorly due to premature brittle fracture of the beam flange at the weld access hole. Unlike the case of web-welded specimens, specimens with cheaper bolted web connection could not transfer the actual plastic moment of the original (or unreduced) beam section to the column. No fracture occurred within the beam groove welds of any connection in this testing program. If fracture within the beam flange groove weld is avoided by using quality welding procedure as in this study, the fracture issue tends to move into the beam flange base metal at the weld access hole. Supporting analytical study was also conducted in order to understand the observed base metal fracture from the engineering mechanics perspective.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.687-704
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• 2014

A great number of moment-resisting steel structures collapsed due to ductile crack initiation at welded beam-column connections, followed by explosive brittle fracture in the Kobe (Hyogoken-Nanbu) earthquake in 1995. A series of experimental and numerical studies on cracking behaviors of beam-column connections in steel bridge piers were carried out by the authors' team. This paper aims to study the effect of post weld treatment on cracking behaviors of the connections during a strong earthquake event. Experiments of three specimens with different weld finishes, i.e., as-welded, R-finish, and burr grinding, were conducted. The experimental results indicate that the instants of ductile crack initiation are greatly delayed for the specimens with R-finish and burr grinding finishes compared with the as-welded one. The strain concentration effect in the connection is also greatly reduced in the specimens with post weld treatment compared with the as-welded one, which was also verified in the tests.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 2017

In the 1994 Northridge earthquake, connection damage initiated from the beam bottom flange was prevalent. The presence of a concrete slab and resulting composite action was speculated as one of the critical causes of the prevalent bottom flange fracture. In this study, four seismic retrofit schemes are proposed in order to salvage welded steel moment connections with composite floor slabs in existing steel moment frames. Because top flange modification of existing beams is not feasible due to the presence of a concrete floor slab, three schemes of bottom flange modification by using welded triangular or straight haunches or RBS(reduced beam section), and beam web strengthening by attaching heavy shear tab were cyclically tested and analyzed. Test results of this study show that haunch and web-strengthened specimens can eliminate the detrimental effect caused by composite action and ensure excellent connection plastic rotation exceeding 5% rad. Design recommendations for each retrofit scheme together with supplemental numerical studies are also presented.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.221-231
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cyclic behavior of steel column-tree moment connections used in steel moment resisting frames. These connections are composed of shop-welded stub beam-to-column connection and field bolted beam-to-beam splice. In this study, the effects of beam splice length on the seismic performance of column-tree connections were experimentally investigated. The change of the beam splice location alters the bending moment and shear force at the splice, and this may affect the seismic performance of column-tree connections. Three full-scale test specimens of column-tree connections with the splice lengths of 900 mm, 1,100 mm, and 1,300 mm were fabricated and tested. The splice lengths were roughly 1/6, 1/7, 1/8 of the beam span length of 7,500 mm, respectively. The test results showed that all the specimens successfully developed ductile behavior without brittle fracture until 5% radians story drift angle. The maximum moment resisting capacity of the specimens showed little differences. The specimen with the splice length of 1,300 mm showed better bolt slip resistance than the other specimens due to the smallest bending moment at the beam splice.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2014

This study presents an experimental study of the structural behavior for steel plate-concrete column-to-steel girder connections. Experiments were carried out to investigate the moment-rotation characteristics, failure behavior and ultimate moment capacity of these connections. The results of this experimental study involving three welded moment-resisting connections subjected to cyclic loading are presented. The specimens were fabricated at full scale to evaluate their hysteretic behavior. A description of the test specimens, the details of the joint, the test system and the testing methods are described. The test results showed that the structural behavior of these composite connections was influenced by the connection details.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.851-867
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• 2016

Cruciform sections are an appropriate option for columns of orthogonal moment resisting frames for equal bending strength and stiffness about two main axes and the implementation is easier for continuity plates. These columns consist of two I-shaped sections, so that one of them is cut out in middle and two generated T-shaped sections be welded into I-shaped profile. Furthermore, in steel moment frames, unbalance moment at the beam-column connection leads to shear deformation in panel zone. Most of the obtained relations for panel zone strength derived from experimental and analytical results are on I-shaped columns with almost thin flanges. In this paper, a parametric study has been carried out using Finite Element Method (FEM) with effective parameters at the panel zone behavior. These parameters consist of column flange thickness, column web thickness, and thickness of continuity plates. Additionally, a mathematical model has been suggested to determine strength of cruciform column panel zone and has been shown its accuracy and efficiency.