Numerical Validation on Noval Replaceable Reduced Beam Section Connections for Moment-Resisting Frames

Abstract After a severe seismic activation, the buildings designed based on seismic specifications are expected to have damages without any local and global collapse. The key parameters that influence re-occupancy of the damaged buildings are workmanship cost and time. In order to circumvent shortcomings of these crucial parameters, replaceable fuse members with high energy dissipation capacity have been developed up to date. Moment resisting frames (MRFs) are one of the most preferred lateral load resisting systems in terms of architectural versatility and high energy dissipation capacity. Even though many beam-to-column connection details have been investigated over the years, none of them has addressed assembly difficulties when replacing the damaged fuse members under the residual drift ratio occurred after an earthquake. Therefore, this study presents replaceable reduced beam sections with connection detail for MRFs under residual drift. The proposed detail includes end-plated mid-spliced reduced beam sections. Pursuant to this goal, the proposed detail has been investigated under cyclic loading protocol required by AISC 341-16 by using ABAQUS finite element program. Seismic response of the proposed connection detail was compared from PEEQ and Rupture Index standpoint. The obtained findings indicate that the proposed mid-spliced replaceable reduced beam section satisfies all requirements mandated by AISC 341-16.