Bolted large seismic steel beam-to-column connections Part 1: experimental study

Two large bolted steel moment-resisting connections were studied by experiments. These connections were single-sided beam-to-column assemblies that are representative of exterior beam-to-column connections, and they were composed of W36×150 Grade 50 beams and W14×283 Grade 50 columns. T-stubs were cut from W40×264 sections of Grade 50 steel. The T-stub stems were welded to the beams and prestressed by bolts to the beam flanges in the shop. Final beam-to-column assembly required no additional welding: the T-stub flanges were bolted to the column and the column shear tab was bolted to the beam web. The specimens had two symmetrically located T-stubs with different stem geometry: Specimen 1 had rectangular-shaped stems, whereas Specimen 2 had U-shaped stems. During the cyclic testing the beam deformation was minimal controlled by active participation of the T-stub flanges: a separation between T-stub flanges and the column flanges was observed. This separation was caused by bending plastic deformation in the T-stub flanges and plastic deformation in the high-strength bolts. This phenomenon allowed energy dissipation and prevented severe buckling of the beam flanges and beam web.