Numerical Study on Strength and Deformation Capacity of Panel Zone in Web-Clamped Type Beam-To-Column Connection

Abstract eng:
The web-clamped type connection is proposed as a new connection which has stiffness comparable to conventional welded connections and high workability comparable to conventional high strength bolted connections. In this connection, the prefabricated attachments are connected to the column web directly, two slits are opened on the column flange. This connection detail makes the force from beam transfer to the column web directly. Two main features of web-clamped type connection which may cause the unique panel zone behavior are: 1) there is no horizontal stiffener in the panel zone, and 2) it is not necessary to connect the beam web and the column by the shear plate in the web-clamped type connection. In this connection, the attachment clamps a part of the panel zone, which can transfer the force from beam to column web directly. Owing to this unique detail, as shown in previous numerical studies, the attachments can transfer both shear force and bending moment from beam, which leads to an omission of the shear plate. Because of this two features of the panel zone in the web-clamped connection, the boundary condition of the panel zone in the web clamped type is different from that of the conventional welded one, which might cause different panel zone behavior. In this paper, in order to investigate whether the panel zone of the web-clamped type connection show both a shear panel behavior in the elastic range and a truss behavior in the inelastic range, which is the same as that of the conventional welded connection, parametric numerical simulations are conducted and the strength, the stiffness and the stress distribution of the panel zone are compared. As a result, when the strength and the stiffness of the panel zone was compared through the shear deformation angle of the panel zone between web-clamped models and conventional welded models, it was observed that the strength and stiffness of the panel zone of the web-clamped type models were 1.1 times higher than those of the conventional welded type models. When the shear stress distribution was compared, the shear stress acting over the panel zone in the conventional welded connection was uniform, while that of the web-clamped connection was not uniform and high at the center of the panel zone. This might imply that the panel zone of the web-clamped type connection has another shear force transmission mechanism in addition to the shear panel behavior. When deformation shape of the panel zone in the large panel shear deformation angle was compared, all the models showed the diagonal panel shear buckling and the diagonal tension field. This may imply that the internal force transfer mechanism of the panel zone of web-clamped connection switches to truss behavior after the panel zone yields, which is the same behavior as that of the conventional welded connection. Especially in the web-clamped type models without the shear plate, deflection in the vertical side of the panel zone was observed, which may cause the early strength deterioration of the panel zone.

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