Experimental study of resilient prefabricated steel frame with all-bolted beam-to-column connections

Abstract

To avoid welding on a construction site, this paper proposes a novel resilient prefabricated steel frame with all-bolted beam-to-column connections (ABRPSF), which is optimized based on a resilient prefabricated steel frame with mixed welded and bolted beam-to-column connections (WBRPSF) that was proposed and investigated in a previous study. Four-story, 3 ×5 bay prototype structures of the ABRPSF and WBRPSF are designed, and their substructures are used to conduct pseudo-dynamic tests, whose results are then compared to investigate the seismic behavior of ABRPSFs. The results indicate that the seismic behavior and recentering capacity of a new structural system composed of ABRPSFs are similar to those of WBRPSFs; in addition, the ABRPSF improves the assembly efficiency significantly and can be adopted as a reliable alternative to the WBRPSF.