Experimental investigation of rigid khorjini connections using reduced beam sections with diagonal and horizontal-vertical stiffeners

Abstract

Steel structures with khorjini beam–column connections, used to be a popular construction practice in Iran. This paper presents a new rigid khorjini connection with reduced beam sections (RBS) for earthquake-resistant steel structures. In rigid khorjini connection, two beams pass next to the column faces without interruption and are connected to the column by vertical plates. In this research, Rigid khorjini connections with Reduced beam sections were investigated. RBS method has some disadvantages such as web local buckling and lateral torsional buckling. Therefore, to prevent these weaknesses and improve the performance of khorjini connections with reduced beam sections, web stiffeners were employed. Four different specimens were constructed and tested using IPE 140 profiles for beams: one without an RBS (KHORJINI), one with reduced beam section (KRBS), and two with RBS and web stiffeners (KRBS-HVS and KRBS-DS). Through these experimental tests, it was revealed that all specimens sustained the interstory drift angle greater than 0.06 rad without any significant loss of strength, which indicates that the Rigid khorjini connection with reduced beam sections for IPE140 profiles can perform acceptably under the conditions of AISC regulations and the use of Diagonal and Horizontal-Vertical stiffeners increased the energy dissipation and plastic rotation capacity of connections.