Development of a New Cyclic Loading Protocol for Seismic Performance Assessment of Steel Moment Connections

Abstract

ABSTRACT Given the high level of seismic activity across the Middle East and particularly Iran, loading history data and respective seismic records in the region are required to formulate regional loading protocols for proper estimation of seismic behavior of structural components in accordance with construction conditions in the area. This study aims to propose such a loading protocol for the seismic performance assessment of steel moment connections in both real and laboratory conditions. A study is done on all the earthquakes that took place in the region and more than 2000 modified records of earthquakes that occurred in Iran during the past four decades to prepare an appropriate list of far-field records for the region. Subsequently, nonlinear time history analyses were performed for 7-, 12-, and 20-story steel buildings and construction conditions in the region and damage parameters were obtained. With different analytical, statistical and numerical analyses on the damage parameters resulted in target values for formulating the loading protocol for the region. Finally, an appropriate loading protocol was proposed to evaluate the moment connections (including reduced beam section connections and welded unreinforced flange-welded web moment connections) considering the construction conditions of the structures as well as the seismic history of the region.