Experimental verification of seismic performance of built-up beam-to-column connections with ductile detail

Abstract

The sections of hot-rolled H-beams produced by steel manufacturers in South Korea do not fully meet the requirements of recent buildings. Although custom-made built-up H-beams meet field requirements, they require a highly reliable manufacturing process through batch production and quality control. To this end, a steel manufacturer in South Korea recently constructed a production line for manufacturing built-up H-beams with uniform quality, and has attempted to address the problems of inefficient sections of hot-rolled members and the lack of large sections with a beam depth of 900 mm or greater. Furthermore, the steel manufacturer has attempted to produce highly ductile connection details that can be applied to large H-beam sections with a maximum depth exceeding that of existing hot-rolled H-beams to ensure seismic performance. In this study, real-scale structural performance tests were conducted on the beam-to-column connections of large built-up H-beams with ductile connection details suitable for site conditions. Built-up H-beams with a beam depth of 1000 mm were selected as specimens. The authors used a beam-end seismic welding detail and horizontal stiffener reinforcement detail, which were verified in a previous experimental study on beams with conventional depths. The test results were described in accordance with the connection performance verification process presented in the AISC standard and the seismic design code adopted in South Korea. The structural stability of the applied connection details was analyzed.