Research on hysteretic behavior of external T-stiffener box-column I-beam space connections

Abstract

The bearing capacity and deformation performance of external T-stiffener box-column to I-beam space connections were analyzed in this paper. A great deal of full-path analysis of space connections has been carried out by using finite element program ABAQUS with different parameters, which are box-column section width, I-beam flange width, section height of I-beam, flange width and web length of T-stiffener. FEM is proposed for numerical simulation under cycling loading based on the mechanical properties of materials. The result show that the hysteresis curve is the spindle shape and relatively full of T-stiffener box-column I-beam space connections. The ductility coefficient μ is larger than 4.0 and equivalent viscous damping coefficient h e is larger than 0.2 of the space connections, which have been met the limitation of the specification requirements. The bearing capacity and deformation performance of external T-stiffener box-column I-beam space connections can be improved with the increasing of T-stiffener flange width and web length effectively. Due to the fine performance of ductility, energy dissipation and seismic performance, the external T-stiffener box-column I-beam space connections can be proposed used in multi-layer steel structure engineering widely.