• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.243-264
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• 2008

This paper details a testing facility ("NATURAL FIRE FACILITY") that allows closely-controlled experimental testing on full-scale sub-frames while reproducing the spatially transient temperature conditions measured in real fires. Using this test facility, an experimental investigation of six steel sub-frames under a natural fire was carried out at the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Coimbra. The main objective of these tests was to provide insight into the influence of these connection types on the behaviour of steel sub-structures under fire. The experimental layout is defined by two thermally insulated HEA300 columns and an unprotected IPE300 beam with 5.7 m span, supporting a composite concrete slab. Beam-to-column connections are representative of the most common joint type used on buildings: welded joints and extended, flush and partial depth plate. Finally, the available results are presented and discussed: evolution of the steel temperature; development of displacements and local deformations and failure modes on the joints zone.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.447-462
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• 2020

The paper aims to investigate the mechanical mechanism and seismic effect of stiffeners in blind bolt endplate connection to CFST column. A precise 3D finite element model with considering the cyclic properties of concrete and steel materials was established, and the efficiency was validated through monotonic and cyclic test data. The deforming pattern and the seismic performance of the unstiffened and stiffened blind bolt endplate connections were investigated. Then a parametric analysis was conducted to analyze the contribution of stiffeners and the joint working behaviors with endplate under cyclic load. The joint stiffness classifications were compared and a supplement stiffness classification method was proposed, and the energy dissipation ability of different class connections were compared and discussed. Results indicated that the main deformation pattern of unstiffened blind bolt endplate connections was the local bending of end plate. The vertical stiffeners can effectively alleviate the local bending deformation of end plate. And influence of stiffeners in thin endplate and thick endplate was different. Based on the stiffness of external diaphragm welded connection, a more detailed rigidity classification was proposed which included the pin, semi-rigid, quasi-rigid and rigid connection. Beam was the main energy dissipation source for rigid connection. For the semi-rigid and quasi-rigid connection, the extended endplate, stiffeners and steel beam would all participate in the energy dissipation.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.688-691
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• 2004

This study summarizes results of a research project aimed at investigating the inelastic rotation capacity of beam-column joints of reinforced concrete moment frames. A total of 28 specimens were classified as special moment frame connections based on the design and detailing requirements in the ACI 318-99 provisions. Then, the acceptance criteria, originally defined for steel moment frame connections in the AISC-97 Seismic Provisions, were used to evaluate the joint connections of concrete moment frames. Twenty seven out of 28 test specimens that satisfy the design requirements for special moment frame structures provided sufficient strength and are ductile up to a plastic rotation of $3\%$ without any major degradation in strength.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2012

In this study, a new structural bracing system named 'Hat Knee Bracing' (HKB) is presented. In this structural system, a special form of diagonal braces, which is connected to the knee elements instead of beam-column joints, is investigated. The diagonal elements provide lateral stiffness during moderate earthquakes. However the knee elements, which is a fuse-like component, is designed to have one plastic joint in the knee elements for dissipation of the energy caused by strong earthquake. First, a suitable shape for brace and knee elements is proposed through elastic studying of the system and several practical parameters are established. Afterward, by developing applicable and highly accurate models in Drain-2DX, the inelastic behavior of the system is carefully considered. In addition, with inelastic study of the new bracing system and comparison with the prevalent Knee Bracing Frame system (KBF model) in nonlinear static and dynamic analysis, the seismic behavior of the new bracing system is reasonably evaluated.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.219-223
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• 2002

The actual behavior of joint is traditionally disregarded in steel frame design. In fact, the structural analysis of steel frames is generally carried out by assuming that joints fulfil the ideal condition of either a hinge or a fixed-end restraints. In this way, calculations are made somewhat simpler, but the structural model is not able to reflect the actual structural response. Therefore, steel frame classification system for estimation or analysis about behavior of steel frame should be established, and range that each connections belongs should be divided definitely. This research presents realistic and practical moment-rotation relation through investigation and analysis of steel frame beam-to-column classification system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.3
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• pp.395-406
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• 2020

Many prefabricated concrete frame joints have been proposed, and most of them showed good seismic performance. However, there are still some limitations in the proposed fabricated joints. For example, for prefabricated prestressed concrete joints, prefabricated beams and prefabricated columns are assembled as a whole by the pre-stressed steel bar and steel strand in the beams, which brings some troubles to the construction, and the reinforcement in the core area of the joints is complex, and the mechanical mechanism is not clear. Based on the current research results, a new type of fabricated joint of prestressed concrete beams and confined concrete columns is proposed. To study the seismic performance of the joint, the quasi-static test is carried out. The test results show that the nodes exhibit good ductility and energy dissipation. According to the experimental fitting method and the "fixed point pointing" law, the resilience model of this kind of nodes is established, and compared with the experimental results, the two agree well, which can provides a certain reference for elasto-plastic seismic response analysis of this type of structure. Besides, based on the analysis of the factors affecting the shear capacity of the node core area, the formula of shear capacity of the core area of the node is proposed, and the theoretical values of the formula are consistent with the experimental value.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2009

The present paper briefly describes the space frame element and the fundamental strategies in computational elastic bifurcation theory of geometrically nonlinear, single load parameter conservative elastic spatial structures. A method for large deformation(rotation) analysis of space frame is based on an eulerian formulation, which takes into consideration the effects of large joint translations and rotations with finite deformation(rotation). The local member force-deformation relationships are based on the beam-column approach, and the change in member chord lengths caused by axial strain and flexural bowing are taken into account. and the derived geometric stiffness matrix is unsymmetric because of the fact that finite rotations are not commutative under addition. To detect the singular point such as bifurcation point, an iterative pin-pointing algorithm is proposed. And the path switching mode for bifurcation path is based on the non-negative eigen-value and it's corresponding eigen-vector. Some numerical examples for bifurcation analysis are carried out for a plane frame, plane circular arch and space dome structures are described.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.9-20
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• 1999

A method is proposed to estimate the joint damages of a steel structure from modal data using the neural networks technique. The beam-to-column connection in a steel frame structure is represented by a zero-length rotational spring of the end of the beam element, and the connection fixity factor is defined based on the rotational stiffness so that the factor may be in the range 0~1.0. Then, the severity of joint damage is defined as the reduction ratio of the connection fixity factor. Several advanced techniques are employed to develop the robust damage identification technique using neural networks. The concept of the substructural indentification is used for the localized damage assessment in the large structure. The noise-injection learning algorithm is used to reduce the effects of the noise in the modal data. The data perturbation scheme is also employed to assess the confidence in the estimated damages based on a few sets of actual measurement data. The feasibility of the proposed method is examined through a numerical simulation study on a 2-bay 10-story structure and an experimental study on a 2-story structure. It has been found that the joint damages can be reasonably estimated even for the case where the measured modal vectors are limited to a localized substructure and the data are severely corrupted with noise.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.19-28
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• 2018

Key factors that ensure competitiveness of modular unit include consistent high quality and connection condition that ensures high structural performance while minimizing the overall scale of the on-site process. However, it is difficult to evaluate the structural performance of the connection of modular unit, and its structural analysis and design method can be different depending on the connection to its development, which affects the seismic performance of its final design. In particular, securing the seismic performance is the key to designing modular systems of mid-to-high-rise structure. In this paper, therefore, the seismic performance of the modular system with bracket-typed fully restrained moment connections according to stiffness and the shapes of various connection members was evaluated through experimental and analytical methods. To verify the seismic performance, a cyclic loading test of the connection joint of the proposed modular system was conducted. As a result of this study, theoretical values and experimental results were compared with the initial stiffness, hysteresis behavior and maximum bending moment of the modular system. Also, the connection joint was modeled, using the commercial program ANSYS, which was then followed by finite element analysis of the system. According to the results of the experiment, the maximum resisting force of the proposed connection exceeded the theoretical parameters, which indicated that a rigid joint structural performance could be secured. These results almost satisfied the criteria for connection bending strength of special moment frame listed on KBC2016.