Seismic Performance of Compact Beam–Column Connections with Welding Defects in Steel Bridge Piers
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 22, Issue 4
Abstract
Welding defects and fatigue cracks in full-penetration welded beam–column connections, resulting in partial-penetration welds, are found in existing steel moment-resisting frame bridge piers. The welding defects may have an unfavorable effect on the seismic performance of a large number of existing piers, most of which have been in operation for over 50 years. This study aims to clarify the effects of the weld profile, e.g., weld leg length, penetration depth, and incomplete penetration depth, on seismic performance of the beam–column connections in existing piers with welded box sections. The effect of gusset stiffeners (termed fillets in this paper) at the beam-web-to-column-web joint on the improvement of seismic performance is also studied. In this study, experiments on 10 specimens with different incomplete penetration depths and fillet radii are performed under quasi-static cyclic large displacement loading. Based on the test results, cracks may initiate either at the beam end or at the weld of the beam-flange-to-column-flange joint, and the sum of the external and internal total weld leg lengths is a dominant parameter that affects crack propagation at the joint. In addition, the fillet at the beam-web-to-column-web joint can delay the decrease in the load-carrying capacity.
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Acknowledgments
The study is supported in part by grants from the Advanced Research Center for Natural Disaster Risk Reduction, Meijo University, which is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan. It is also partially supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant 51508401). Also, the first author thanks the Daiko Foundation for its financial assistance.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 22 • Issue 4 • April 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 5, 2016
Accepted: Nov 3, 2016
Published online: Nov 29, 2016
Published in print: Apr 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Apr 29, 2017
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