Numerical study on the behaviour of resilient beam-column end plate connection with dual structural fuse

摘要

The beam-column connections are generally failed due to geometrical and material properties of connection under seismic conditions. Towards damage control of the connection, the forces must be mitigated away from the connection. The steel plates are used as a structural fuse that receives the forces from connection and fail first. The steel plates are not only used as dissipative fuse and also used as alternative force transfer path, which increases the moment capacity of the connection. In this research, a novel beam-column end-plate resilient connection is proposed. The connection is made resilient by incorporating the structural fuse. Two different types of fuses, such as single and dual fuse are modelled. The shape of the fuse has vital importance and it is modelled in the shape of an hourglass. The main objective of the current research is to study the effect of single fuse, dual fuse and combined action of fuse and damper in beam-column end-plate connection under cyclic loading. The objective is attained by two different types of studies such as component method and finite element analysis (FEA). The mechanical model is developed for the novel end-plate connection based on Eurocode 3. The parametric analysis is conducted using the component approach to study the effect of connection components such as end-plate thickness, bolt diameter and number of bolts. The appropriate geometrical configuration of the fuse plate is obtained using finite element analysis. The specimens are configured as five different forms based upon the number of fuses (single and dual fuse), the position of fuse (beam top flange alone, both top and bottom flange) and subjected to monotonic and cyclic loading. The moment of resistance, hysteresis response, stiffness, energy dissipation capacity and strain in the fuse were critically assessed in the present investigation. In the comparison of single and dual fuse, the ultimate moment of dual fuse is marginally higher than single fuse. The fuses present in the tension region directly took part in enhancing the moment capacity of connection whereas the fuses in the compression side were acted as a damping element which circuitously enhanced the moment capacity. Under cyclic conditions, it is good to have fuse on both sides (tension and compression) to get the benefit of both fuse and damping action.