Effect of Mid-Connection Detail on the Behavior of Cross-Bracing Systems

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of mid-connection detail of cross bracings comprised of build-up sections on the elastic-plastic behavior of braced systems is investigated. Then, a proposed symmetric mid-connection detail is compared with the commonly used one, analytically. In common mid-connection detail of cross-braces with build-up sections, one diagonal member (which is comprised of a pair of channels or angles) is usually discontinuous at the mid-connection and the other diagonal member is continuously passed through the connection. A rectangular gusset plate is used to join the discontinuous and continuous diagonals, in practice. In the proposed method one section from each diagonal member is discontinuous and the other is continuous and this causes both the diagonals to be semi-continuous at the center connection. Buckling and post-buckling behavior of single span-single story models of cross-bracing systems, have been studied during a linear and nonlinear static finite element analysis. The results show that the proposed mid-connection detail can improve both strength and ductility of the cross-braced systems.