Research On Seismic Behavior Of The New Assemble Beam-to-column Rigid Connections

With the economic improvement and the extension of exchange in engineeringifeld, steel structure gradually developed into the mainstream. Welded connection waswidely used in the traditional steel construction, the connection was high intransportation costs and construction inconvenience. Develop "prefabricated steelbuilding" is an effective way to realize the target of national building energy reduction.Its advanced features: components and parts produced in factory, constructionmechanized on-site, meanwhile, scientiifc management organizations can reduceconstruction waste and adverse effects on the environment, improve constructionquality and the degree of integration in the building by energy-saving products, savelabor and shorten the construction period.A new type of connection was studied in the article, which is consistent withthe construction of prefabricated structural form，the new assemble beam-to-columnconnection is a new type of connection, whose splice plates are interactively set on theupper and lower flanges of the cantilever beam and frame beam. Meanwhile, bothsides of the splice plates and beam are pre-connected by weld in steel factory and ifxedby bolt in the ifeld. In the process of installation in the ifeld，both sides of the spliceplates act the role of ear plates to make sure the quick installation of beam segment.Complete the connection of the splice plate and lfanges and webs of the beam on theother side to end the installation of the connection after in place. The new assemblebeam-to-column connection is reasonable in structure, clear in force transmission, nowelding, high eiffciency in installation, good security, meanwhile, it improve theeiffciency and avoid the ifre risk of welding. Moreover, the connection is boltconnection in the ifeld，which bring great convenience to the inconvenient weldconstruction.Based on the domestic and international reference, the new assemblebeam-to-column rigid connection specimen BASE was designed，meanwhile, eightgroups specimens of DM，GBL，GBW，GBT，GA，XBL，BP, FC were designed bychanging the number of bolts, length, width and thickness, cross sectional area of theplate, the length of the cantilever beam, the pretension of high strength bolt and frictioncoeiffcient. The simulation of the connection under low cycle load was carried out using ABAQUS based on material, geometric and contact nonlinearity. The failuremode，hysteretic behavior, bearing capacity were studied under cyclic loading. Theresults indicated that the connection with equal strength design method had betterability of ductility and energy dissipation. The change of bolt number, width, thickness,cross sectional area of the plate, the length of the cantilever beam had signiifcant effecton the connection. The bearing capacity of the connection was not decreased afterreducing the bolt number, meanwhile, the connection could scatter energy by the slideof the bolt and the plastic deformation of the splice plates. The ductility and ultimatebearing capacity of the connection would increase marginally by increasing the numberof the bolts. The width and thickness of the cover plate had certain impact on thehysteretic behavior of the connection, design proposal of the new connection weregiven that the section area of the plate should be larger than the section of the beamlfange，the ratio should be controlled at1.25-1.50，and the cover plate thickness shouldnot be less than the beam lfange thickness. The length of the cantilever beam is animportant impact that affect the hysteretic behavior of the connection, it should becontrolled at1.1-1.5times of the beam height. Changing the pretension of highstrength bolt and friction factor had no effect on the connection in elastic and plasticphase.Compared the new connection with the no splice connection, the deformationof the two different connections and the effect of the different stiffness of bearingcapacity of the connection were analyzed. The results indicated that in elastic phase,the plates and beam flange forced together for the pretension of the high-strength boltand increased the cross-sectional inertia moment considerably, which made the elasticlimit bearing capacity of the new connection higher than the no splice connection;While in plastic phase, the friction type connection of high-strength bolt transformedinto the bearing type connection, with the slip of the splice plates and part energyconsumption, the rotation of the new connection was higher than the no splice one.