WELDMENT COMPONENT TEST FOR STEEL MOMENTCONNECTIONS

摘要

A common failure mode for welded steel moment resisting frames is fracture of the weldments, as evincedby the performance of these structures in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Since 1994, seismic designguidelines in the United States have incorporated requirements for cyclic experiments on full-scale beamcolumnsubassemblages to evaluate the capacity of steel moment connections, including the weldments.The cost of these experiments limits designers to a small database of pre-qualified connection details (I.e.Combination of beams and columns). This study presents a weldment component test (WCT) on aconsiderably smaller-but still full-scale-specimen that emulates the stress/strain demands observed inthe weldments of a moment connection. The WCT and the full-scale beam-column subassemblageexperiment are simulated using the finite element software package ABAQUS. Comparison ofstress/strain results from corresponding models indicates that the WCT accurately represents actualresponse of weldments in moment frames. Finally, a WCT is designed to benchmark against existing datafrom beam-column subassemblage tests. The costs associated with the new WCT are considerably lessthan those associated with existing experimental procedures. Overall, the WCT provides a valuable toolfor predicting weldment resistance to brittle fracture and final mode of failure.