Seismic performance of light steel-natural timber composite beam-column joint in low-rise buildings

Abstract

Current timber structures or steel-timber composite structures are made of thick steel and glued laminated timber (glulam) with beams and columns connected by high-strength bolts used in high-rise and large-span structures. However, there is no high strength requirement for low-rise buildings in villages and towns. The composite action of thin-walled steel and fast-growing timber is selected to constitute the structural members together, which are connected using plain bolts for a structural system suitable for residential houses in villages and towns. Thin-walled steel can be used to minimize the initial defects and material variability of fast-growing timber. To meet the requirements of the light steel-fast-growing timber composite structural system, a fully bolted joint is designed in this paper. The quasi-static tests of seven joints are carried out to analyze their seismic performance. The results show that the seismic performance of joints can meet the requirements of low-rise residential buildings in villages and towns. The finite element simulation of the test specimens is also carried out, and the modeling approach is described in detail to analyze similar structures further. Finally, the component-based expression was used to propose a simplified spring model to calculate the joints' initial rotational stiffness and ultimate capacity and compared with the experimental results for practical applications.