Technical Papers
Jul 26, 2021

Behavior of Steel Moment Frames Using Top-and-Seat Angle Connections under Various Column-Removal Scenarios

Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 10

Abstract

Top-and-seat angle connections are a conventional type of steel moment connection. However, their capacity in accommodating columns loss is rarely studied. In this study, five multistory steel moment subframes using top-and-seat angle connections were fabricated and tested to investigate their performance while subjected to various column-removal scenarios, including: (1) a middle column loss, (2) a penultimate column loss, and (3) a corner column loss. Moreover, the effects of the thickness of steel angle on load resistance were quantified. The test results indicated that load-resisting capacity increased significantly with the increase of angle thickness. In both middle column and penultimate column removal scenarios, catenary action was developed in the frames. It was also noticed that flexural action dominated the load-resisting mechanism of the frames under a corner column loss scenario. For beams in different stories, similar flexural resistance was developed. However, the beams in the first story were able to develop larger catenary action than that in the second story. It is worth noting that, for a corner column missing scenario, Vierendeel action helps to enhance the flexural action significantly.

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Data Availability Statement

Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a research grant provided by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52022024 and 51778153). Any opinions, findings and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the view of Natural Science Foundation of China.

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Go to Journal of Structural Engineering
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147Issue 10October 2021

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Received: Aug 3, 2020
Accepted: Apr 6, 2021
Published online: Jul 26, 2021
Published in print: Oct 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Dec 26, 2021

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Kai Qian, Ph.D., M.ASCE [email protected]
Professor, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guilin Univ. of Technology, Guilin 541004, China. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Research Student, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi Univ., Guilin 530004, China. Email: [email protected]
Research Fellow, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guilin Univ. of Technology, Guilin 531004, China (corresponding author). Email: [email protected]
Senior Lecturer, Structural Engineering, School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering, City, Univ. of London, London EC1V 0HB, UK. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9176-8159. Email: [email protected]

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