Experimental and Analytical Study of Fully Prefabricated Damage-Tolerant Beam to Column Connection for Earthquake-Resilient Frame

Abstract

A fully prefabricated damage-tolerant beam-to-column connection is proposed as an approach toward an earthquake-resilient steel frame. By introducing a composite steel–ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC) joint and friction damper, the plastic deformation becomes concentrated on the designated plastic hinge region. Thus, the damage index and area of the connection can be limited to an acceptable level. In this paper, four full-scale specimens are tested to evaluate the cyclic performance of the novel connection. Some important design parameters are investigated, including the thickness of the UHPC layer, the length of the designated plastic hinge region, and the friction force. The experimental results confirm the expected damage-tolerance performance. Yielding does not occur in the main column and composite beams. The beam-to-column connection exhibits satisfactory energy dissipation and deformation capacity. Strength degradation is not observed, even when the beam–column relative rotation reaches 1/20. Based on the experiment, an analytical connection model is proposed. This model performs well in estimating the initial stiffness and yielding force of the connection. Several design suggestions are presented on the basis of this analytical model.