Experimental investigation of the performance of replaceable-rigid connection

After the Northridge earthquake, a set of prequalified connections were introduced by international design codes. Thease connections include reduced beam secrion (RBS) moment connection, bolted unstiffended and stiffended extended end-plate moment connection, bolted flange plate (BFP) moment connection, welded unreinforced flange-welded web (WUF-W) moment connection, kaiser bolted bracket (KBB) moment connection, conxtech conxl moment connection, sideplate moment connection, simpson strong tie strong frame moment connection, double tee moment connection, slottedweb (SW) moment connection. After ensuring the seismic performance of this set during earthquakes, concerns surfaced that forming plastic hinges in beam elements would result in either making repairs impossible or incredibly expensive in the event of a moderate or severe earthquake. Hence, a type of replaceable connections was introduced wherein plastic hinges would be placed in pre-determined elements. Their intuitive replaceability feature would make repairs and reutilization of the structure a much easier task. In this study, the experimental investigations of 4 full-scale samples of a replaceable rigid connection under cyclic loading were carried out. The results of the experiments demonstrated that in the proposed connection, the plastic hinge is formed in the fuse element while the beam and the column maintain their elasticity, allowing the connection to be replaced. Also, taking into account the early buckling of the fuse plates installed on the beam flanges, the moment capacity of the connection is decreased by 22 percent compared to the moment capacity of the fuse. According to the results obtained from the backbone diagrams, stiffness of the connection after replacing the fuse plates in P12 and P15 samples has decreased by 8.61% and 6.14%, respectively; this could be due to slight changes on the holes on the beam web and flanges as well as changes in the pre-tensioning forces of the bolts. Investigations have revealed that, the 20% increase in the moment capacity of the fuse (using 15 mm-steel plates instead of 12 mm in the fuse plates of the beam flanges) has increased the cumulative energy dissipation of the connection by 12%.