Abstract
Replaceable fuses as coupling elements, with detailed composite connections, can state the steel and concrete hybrid structures to be one of the best alternatives for a more feasible and easy repairable earthquake-proof structure. Therefore, an efficient composite connection for a newly suggested Hybrid Coupled Wall (HCW) system, consisting of a reinforced concrete shear wall coupled with steel side columns via dissipative steel shear links, is studied in this paper. The steel shear links are connected to a steel profile, embedded or passing through the RC wall. This embedded part should be so designed that the damage always occurs on the steel shear links (fuses) prior to minimal damage in the RC wall and embedded connection. The emphasis is on characterizing a suitable “steel link + embedded composite connection within the RC wall” configuration and calculate an appropriate embedment length while concentrating the seismic damage to the replaceable steel links. To this purpose, two joint configurations are designed through a capacity based approach, namely “partly embedded” and “passing through” steel beam connection and are examined through detailed FE analyses. A parametric study was also carried out to provide sufficient evidence towards the design considerations proposed in this study, in terms of strength, stiffness and bearing strength within the embedded connection.
Highlights
Reinforced concrete (RC) walls coupled by RC beams [1, 2] to more recent steel and concrete hybrid coupled walls (HCWs) with steel or composite beams as structural fuses [3, 4], has provided an efficient solution towards earthquake resistant structures
To achieve the foretold performance objective, the primary steel links are connected either to an embedded steel beam or a beam passing through the RC wall and the embedded connection should be so designed that the seismic damage is always concentrated in the replaceable primary steel links which act as fuse elements, i.e. intended to fail before any or minimal damage in the RC wall as well as other components of the connection
Step 1: Design of the RC wall and steel link: The dimensions and reinforcement details of the RC wall, steel columns and steel shear links are calculated according to a recently proposed design procedure [11] used for global characterization of innovative HCW structures
Summary
Reinforced concrete (RC) walls coupled by RC beams [1, 2] to more recent steel and concrete hybrid coupled walls (HCWs) with steel or composite beams as structural fuses [3, 4], has provided an efficient solution towards earthquake resistant structures. To further improve the combination of the RC wall and steel elements, a new structural configuration for HCW systems was recently proposed, developed and studied using numerical and experimental tools in the European research project INNOHYCO (INNOvative HYbrid and COmposite steel-concrete structural solutions for building in seismic area, [5]). This system consists of a RC shear wall coupled to steel side columns by means of steel links. Previous studies by various researches [6,7,8,9,10]; have investigated the behaviour of such embedded connections, a certain simple and refined design procedure is
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