Seismic behavior of self-centering steel connections with friction T-stubs

Abstract

Conventional steel connections suffer from brittle damages in the structural components such as the beams and the columns. Recently, a new type of self-centering connection was introduced to solve this problem. It uses energy dissipation devices to absorb the energy during a strong earthquake and meanwhile, has post-tensioning high strength strands to offer self-centering capability. In this way the damage of the main structures could be avoided. In this paper, the friction T-stubs were proposed to act as the energy dissipation devices. Cyclic tests were conducted on five full-scaled specimens with different initial post-tensioning forces and thicknesses of T-stubs. Test results were analyzed in terms of load-displacement responses, sliding and deformation, energy dissipation ability, and strain distributions. It was found that the initial post-tensioning force mostly affected the moment capacity and sliding, while the thickness of T-stub had great influences on the deformation and energy dissipation ability. Mechanical model was established to predict the yield and ultimate loads. The theoretical results were found to agree well with the test data.