Abstract
Achieving favorable seismic performance in joints while maintaining flush alignment on the upper and lower surfaces of the beam flanges remains a current challenge. To address this issue, this paper introduces an innovative stepped beam-column joint. To study the seismic performance of the joint, four beam-column joint specimens with different configurations were tested under cyclic loading. The plastic development process, failure modes, hysteresis loops, skeleton curves, stiffness degradation, ductility, load-bearing capacity, and energy dissipation capacity of the joint specimens were carefully investigated. All joint specimens exhibited superior seismic performance and load-bearing capacity. Moreover, variations in plate configurations led to discrepancies in the final failure modes among different joint specimens. Finally, finite element models were established and verified for each joint specimen, and analyses of the tensile forces on outer bolts were conducted. Through the experimental and numerical analysis results, it was concluded that the proposed innovative stepped joint could exhibit excellent seismic performance, and could be recommended for practical application in engineering.
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