Cyclic loading test of earthquake-resilient steel frame joints with different connection forms

Abstract

Three earthquake-resilient steel frame joints with different connection forms were investigated in this study. The three joints were first tested via cyclic loading tests. The test phenomena of the hinged joint were found to be similar to those of the bolted joint. Owing to the double-hinge connection, the instability of the energy dissipator occurred after its slippage. The cyclic performance of the bolted joint was the greatest among that of the three joints. Furthermore, the energy dissipation of the double-hinge joint was approximately identical with that of the hinged joint. The load–displacement relationships of the three joints were then deduced; a bilinear mechanical model was adopted for the joints. The theoretical results agreed with the test results. Thus, the monotonic load–displacement relationships can be used for evaluating the cyclic performance of the three joints. Ultimately, the test process was reproduced via finite element analysis, which was used to further analyze the difference of the three connection forms. The same amount of energy dissipation was observed for the energy dissipators. It was observed that the release of axial constraint has less effect on the cyclic performance of the joint.