Experimental investigation of cold-formed thin-walled yurts with bolted connections under low-cyclic reciprocating loading

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

In this paper, cold-formed steel (CFS) yurts with bolted connections, which can be produced in a factory and easy to easily installed and dismantled, were designed based on the traditional wooden yurt. To study the seismic performance of the newly designed yurts, quasi-static tests were conducted on six CFS yurts under low-cycle reciprocated loading by using two loading methods. The hysteretic curves, skeleton curves, and strain curves of those specimens were obtained. The results show that the designed yurts exhibited an excellent seismic performance under in-plane and out-of-plane loading, and the use of bolted connections further enhanced the energy dissipation capacity of the structures. The ultimate bearing capacity of the octagonal specimens was improved by 1.7 times compared with the hexagonal specimens, and that of the specimens with skin was improved by 1.3 times compared with the specimens without skin. In addition, the skin modified the yielding mechanism of the structure. However, the variation in the roof slope under horizontal loading had little effect on the designed yurts. The seismic performance and energy dissipation capacity of the yurts were found to be maximized by the strengthening of the beam–column joints, and the ultimate bearing capacity of the strengthened specimen were improved by 1.4 times compared with the non-strengthened specimen. This indicates that the structures have considerable seismic performance reserves and can be adapted to the seismic requirements of more complex areas.