• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.417-430
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• 2021

Due to functional requirements, SRC column-RC beam abnormal joints with characteristics of strong beam weak column, variable column section, unequal beam height and staggered height exist in the Steel reinforced concrete (SRC) frame-bent main building structure of thermal power plant (TPP). This paper presents the experimental results of these abnormal joints through cyclic loading tests on five specimens with scaling factor of 1/5. The staggered height and whether adding H-shaped steel in beam or not were changing parameters of specimens. The failure patterns, bearing capacity, energy dissipation and ductile performance were analyzed. In addition, the stress mechanism of the abnormal joint was discussed based on the diagonal strut model. The research results showed that the abnormal exterior joints occurred shear failure and column end hinge flexural failure; reducing beam height through adding H-shaped steel in the beam of abnormal exterior joint could improve the crack resistance and ductility; the abnormal interior joints with different staggered heights occurred column ends flexural failure; the joint with larger staggered height had the higher bearing capacity and stiffness, but lower ductility. The concrete compression strut mechanism is still applicable to the abnormal joints in TPP, but it is affected by the abnormal characteristics.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.80 no.6
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• pp.677-688
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• 2021

The building design codes and standards in many countries usually are either fully or partially adopted from the international codes. However, regional conditions like the quality of construction industry and different statistical parameters of load and resistance have essential roles in the code calibration of building design codes. This paper presents a probabilistic approach to assess the reliability level of adopted national building codes by simulating design situations and considering all load combinations. The impact of the uncertainty of wind and earthquake loads, which are entirely regional condition dependent and have a high degree of uncertainty, are quantified. In this study, the design situation is modeled by generating thousands of numbers for load effect ratios, and the reliability level of steel elements for all load combinations and different load ratios is established and compared to the target reliability. This approach is applied to the Iranian structural steel code as a case study. The results indicate that the Iranian structural steel code lacks safety in some load combinations, such as gravity and earthquake load combinations, and is conservative for other load combinations. The present procedure can be applied to the assessment of the reliability level of other national codes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.683-695
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• 2022

Conventional braces are often used to provide stiffness to structures; however due to buckling they cannot be used as seismic energy dissipating elements. In this study, a seismic energy dissipation device is proposed which is comprised of a bracing member and a steel hysteretic damper made of steel hexagonal plates. The hexagonal shaped designated fuse causes formation of plastic hinges under axial deformation of the brace. The main advantages of this damper compared to conventional metallic dampers and buckling-restrained braces are the stable and controlled energy dissipation capability with ease of manufacture. The mechanical behavior of the damper is formulated first and a design procedure is provided. Next, the theoretical formulation and the efficiency of the damper are verified using finite element (FE) analyses. An analytical model of the damper is established and its efficiency is further investigated by applying it to seismic retrofit of a case study structure. The seismic performance of the structure is evaluated before and after retrofit in terms of maximum interstory drift ratio, top story displacement, residual displacement, and energy dissipation of dampers. Overall, the median of maximum interstory drift ratios is reduced from 3.8% to 1.6% and the residual displacement decreased in the x-direction which corresponds to the predominant mode shape of the structure. The analysis results show that the developed damper can provide cost-effective seismic protection of structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.523-537
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• 2023

This paper proposed a new self-centering brace (SCB), which consists of four post-tensioned (PT) high strength steel strands and energy absorbing steel plate (EASP) clusters. First, analytical equations were derived to describe the working principle of the SCB. Then, to investigate the hysteretic performance of the SCB, four full-size specimens were manufactured and subjected to the same cyclic loading protocol. One additional specimen using only EASP clusters was also tested to highlight the contribution of PT strands. The test parameters varied in the testing process included the thickness of the EASP and the number of EASP in each cluster. Testing results shown that the SCB exhibited nearly flag-shape hysteresis up to expectation, including excellent recentering capability and satisfactory energy dissipating capacity. For all the specimens, the ratio of the recovered deformation is in the range of 89.6% to 92.1%, and the ratio of the height of the hysteresis loop to the yielding force is in the range of 0.47 to 0.77. Finally, in order to further understand the mechanism of the SCB and provide additional information to the testing results, the high-fidelity finite element (FE) models were established and the numerical results were compared against the experimental data. Good agreement between the experimental, numerical, and analytical results was observed, and the maximum difference is less than 12%. Parametric analysis was also carried out based on the validated FE model to evaluate the effect of some key parameters on the cyclic behavior of the SCB.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.231-248
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• 2022

Hybrid Steel-Trussed Concrete Beam (HSTCB) is structural typology suitable for light industrialization. HSTCBs usually cover long span with small depths, which lead to significant amount of longitudinal rebars. The latter make beam-column joints more prone to damage due to earthquake-induced cyclic actions. This phenomenon can be avoided using friction-based BCCs. Friction devices at Beam-to-Column Connections (BCCs) have become promising solutions to reduce the damage experienced by structural members during severe earthquakes. Few solutions have been developed for cast-in-place Reinforced Concrete (RC) and steel-concrete composite Moment Resisting Frames (MRFs), because of the difficulty of designing cost-effective damage-proof connections. This paper proposes a friction-based BCC for RC MRFs made with HSTCBs. Firstly, the proposed connection is described, and its innovative characteristics are emphasized. Secondly, the design method of the connection is outlined. A detailed 3D FE model representative of a beam-column joint fitted with the proposed connection is developed. Several monotonic and cyclic analyses are performed, investigating different design moment values. Lastly, the numerical results are discussed, which demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed solution in preventing damage to RC members, and in ensuring satisfactory dissipative capacity.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.443-454
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• 2023

Steel shear walls are used to strengthen steel and concrete structures. One such system is Partial Attached Steel Shear Walls (PASSW), which are only connected to frame beams. This system offers both structural and architectural advantages. This study first calibrated the numerical model of RC frames with and without PASSW using an experimental sample. The seismic performance of the RC frame was evaluated by 30 non-linear static analyses, which considered stiffness, ductility, lateral strength, and energy dissipation, to investigate the effect of PASSW width and column axial load. Based on numerical results and a curve fitting technique, a lateral stiffness equation was developed for frames equipped with PASSW. The effect of the shear wall location on the concrete frame was evaluated through eight analyses. Nonlinear dynamic analysis was performed to investigate the effect of the shear wall on maximum frame displacement using three earthquake records. The results revealed that if PASSW is designed with appropriate stiffness, it can increase the energy dissipation and ductility of the frame by 2 and 1.2 times, respectively. The stiffness and strength of the frame are greatly influenced by PASSW, while axial force has the most significant negative impact on energy dissipation. Furthermore, the location of PASSW does not affect the frame's behavior, and it is possible to have large openings in the frame bay.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.88 no.1
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• pp.67-81
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• 2023

The reinforced concrete (RC) structures might need strengthening or upgradation due to adverse environmental conditions, design defects, modification requirements, and to prolong the expected lifespan. The RC beams have been efficiently strengthened using the near surface mounted (NSM) approach over the externally bonded reinforcing (EBR) system. In this study, the performance of RC beam elements strengthened with NSM-steel rebars was investigated using an experimental program and nonlinear finite element modeling (FEM). Nine medium-sized, rectangular cross-section RC beams total in number made up for the experimental evaluation. The beams strengthened with varying percentages of NSM reinforcement, and the number of grooves was assessed in four-point bending experiments up to failure. Based on the experimental evaluation, the load-displacement response, crack features, and failure modes of the strengthened beams were recorded and considered. According to the experimental findings, NSM steel greatly improved the flexural strength (up to about 84%) and stiffness of RC beams. The flexural response of the tested beams was simulated using a 3D non-linear finite element (FE) model. The findings of the experiments and the numerical analysis showed good agreement. The effect of the NSM groove and reinforcement on the structural response was then assessed parametrically.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.2
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• pp.143-157
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• 2024

Cold-formed steel (CFS) I sections are increasingly being used as load-bearing components in building constructions, and such I sections frequently incorporate web holes to facilitate service installation. The economical and structural advantages of these elements have prompted many researchers to investigate the behavior of such structures. Despite numerous studies on the buckling stability of castellated beams, there is a notable absence of experimental investigation into oval castellated beams with stiffeners. This study examines the local buckling of cold-formed steel castellated I-beams stiffened with oval constellations through experimental and numerical analysis. Four specimens are fabricated with and without stiffeners, including parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting types attached to the web portion of the beam, along with cross stiffeners for the oval-shaped openings at the beam ends. Additionally, a numerical model is developed to predict the behavior of castellated beams with oval openings up to failure, considering both material and geometric nonlinearities. Codal analysis is performed using the North American specification for cold-formed steel AISI S-100 and the Australian/New Zealand design code AS/NZS 4600. The anticipated outcomes from numerical analysis, experimental research, and codal analysis are compared and presented. It will be more helpful to the preliminary designers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.92 no.2
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• pp.173-187
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• 2024

In this study, the cyclic behavior of Bar Damper (BD) and its effect on the seismic performance of the steel frame was investigated using numerical and analytical methods. Initially, the calibrated model was used to conduct parametric studies on the cyclic behavior of the damper. The purpose of parametric studies was to provide equations for calculating effective and elastic stiffness, ultimate strength, and energy dissipation using its diameter and height. The impact of BD on the steel frame was examined in the second section of the research. In this section, studies were conducted using pushover analysis to investigate the impact of BD on the elastic stiffness, energy absorption, ductility, and strength of the frame. The results demonstrated that increasing the height of the BDs resulted in higher energy dissipation. However, reducing the height and increasing the diameter increased effective stiffness, yield strength, and elastic stiffness. The EVDR results showed that the diameter of the damper has a negligible effect on it, and its value increases with the decrease in height. In the best case, the addition of BD causes a 23% increase in energy dissipation and a 60% increase in frame ductility.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.673-693
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• 2024

An advanced numerical method is proposed in this paper for the second-order inelastic dynamic analysis of cable-stayed bridges using rectangular concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns under earthquake loadings for the first time. The proposed method can exactly predict the nonlinear response of the bridges by using only one element per member in simulating the structural model. This comes from considering both the geometric and material nonlinearities in a fiber beam-column element and a catenary cable element. In the fiber beam-column element, the geometric nonlinearities are captured by applying the stability functions, whereas the material nonlinearities are evaluated by tracing the uniaxial cyclic stress-strain curves of each fiber on the cross-sections, which are located at the integration points along the member length. A computer program was developed based on Newmark's average acceleration algorithm to solve the nonlinear equations of motion. The accuracy and computational efficiency of the proposed program were verified by comparing the predicted results with the experimental results, and the results obtained from the commercial software SAP2000 and ABAQUS. The proposed program is promising as a useful tool for practical designs for the nonlinear inelastic dynamic analysis of cable-stayed bridges.