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Steel and Composite Structures
  Volume 31, Number 6, June25 2019 , pages 541-558
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/scs.2019.31.6.541
 


Numerical study on force transfer mechanism in through gusset plates of SCBFs with HSS columns & beams
S. Ebrahimi, S.M. Zahrai and S.R. Mirghaderi

 
Abstract
    In Special Concentrically Braced Frames (SCBFs), vertical and horizontal components of the brace force must be resisted by column and beam, respectively but normal force component existing at the gusset plate-to-column and beam interfaces, creates out-of-plane action making distortion in column and beam faces adjacent to the gusset plate. It is a main concern in Hollow Structural Section (HSS) columns and beams where their webs and gusset plate are not in the same plane. In this paper, a new gusset plate passing through the HSS columns and beams, named as through gusset plate, is proposed to study the force transfer mechanism in such gusset plates of SCBFs compared to the case with conventional gusset plates. For this purpose, twelve SCBFs with diagonal brace and HSS columns and twelve SCBFs with chevron brace and HSS columns and beams are considered. For each frame, two cases are considered, one with through gusset plates and the other with conventional ones. Based on numerical results, using through gusset plates prevents distortion and out-of-plane deformation at HSS column and beam faces adjacent to the gusset plate helping the entire column and beam cross-sections to resist respectively vertical and horizontal components of the brace force. Moreover, its application increases energy dissipation, lateral stiffness and strength around 28%, 40% and 32%, respectively, improving connection behavior and raising the resistance of the normal force components at the gusset plate-to-HSS column and beam interfaces to approximately 4 and 3.5 times, respectively. Finally, using such through gusset plates leads to better structural performance particularly for HSS columns and beams with larger width-to-thickness ratio elements.
 
Key Words
    through gusset plate; force transfer mechanism; special concentrically braced frame; HSS column and beams
 
Address
(1) S. Ebrahimi:
School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran;
(2) S.M. Zahrai:
Center of Excellence for Engineering and Management of Civil Infrastructures, School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran;
(3) S.R. Mirghaderi:
School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran.
 

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