Mechanical Performance and Failure Mode Research on the Braced Frame Joint of Tower Cranes in High-Rise Building Construction

Abstract

The collapsing number of tower cranes has increased with the development of the building industry. The safety of tower cranes has the potential to improve practices of building and outcomes in construction. The mechanical performance and failure mode of braced frame joints are analyzed in this research. Firstly, a mechanical model of a braced frame joint (BFJ) is established, and the experiment is designed. The destruction process and failure mode are researched by experiment. Then finite element model is established by ABAQUS. Moreover, working conditions with different concrete strength grades (CSG) and tension direction are researched. The results prove that braced frame joint cracks seriously with ultimate bearing capacity, simultaneously, the pre-embedded steel component (PESC) is pulled out. The failure mode is tensile and bending failure of BFJ in the test. The ultimate bearing capacity of failure is controlled by concrete strength grades. The tensile strength increases with the CSG, and the ultimate capacity of BFJ improves equally. The brittle fracture characteristic is more obvious in the ultimate state. The failure mode changes from crushing failure to tensile and bending failure with increasing tension angle. The research results could provide a better understanding of the working mechanism and performance evaluation of the BFJ of the tower crane.