To improve braced frame performance, the connection strength, stiffness, and ductility must be directly considered in the frame design. The resistance of the connection must be designed to resist seismic loads and to help provide the required system ductility. In addition, the connection stiffness affects the dynamic response and the deformation demands on the structural members and connections. In this paper, current design models for gusset plate connections are reviewed and evaluated usingthe results of past experiments. Current models are still not sufficient to provide adequate connection design guidelines and the actual stress and strain states in the gusset plate are very nonlinear and highly complex. Design engineers want simple models with beam and column elements to make an approximate estimation of system and connection performance. The simplified design models are developed and evaluated to predict connection stiffness and system behavior. These models produce reasonably accurate and reliable estimation of connection stiffness.

An experimental study was performed to investigate the cyclic behavior of the reinforced concrete frame with infilled steel plate. For this purpose, three-story compositewalls using infilled steel plates (RCSPW) were tested. The parameters for this test were the reinforcement ratio of the column and opening in the infilled steel plate. A reinforced concrete infilled wall (RCIW) and a reinforced concrete frame (RCF) were also tested for comparison. The deformation capacity of the RCSPW specimen was significantly greater than that of the RCIW specimen, although the two specimens exhibited the same load-carrying capacity. Like the steel plate walls with the steel boundary frame, RCSPW specimens showed excellent strength, deformation capacity, and energy dissipation capacity. Furthermore, by using infilled steel plates, shear cracking and failure of the column-beam joint were prevented. By using a strip model, the stiffness and strength of the RCSPW specimens were predicted. The results were compared with the test results.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the shear characteristics of the shear connectors embedded into light weight concrete. This paper tried to confirm the validity of the finite element method(FEM) through the comparative study between the previous study results and FEM analysis, and evaluated the shear strength of shear connector and current design codes(AISC-LRFD and Eurocode 4) according to the variation of compressive strength of light weight concrete. This paper resulted that the shear strength of connector embedded into light weight concrete closely agreed to the one of shear connector by Eurocode 4 based on the results of the FEM analysis.

This study aims to suggest an appropriate flexural reinforcement technique by evaluating the reinforcement capacity of specimens that underwent flexural reinforcement according to the post-tension method with the anchoring position of an unbonded tension member on the conventional SC composite beam and the applied tension level as variables. For the experiment, up to a predetermined yield load was applied to each type of specimen and then, unbounded post-tensioning was additionally conducted to examine its reinforcement capacity. The analysis of the said experiment showed that the post-reinforced SC composite beam was characterized by significantly improved yield stress and initial stiffness, compared with the pre-reinforced one and the experimental measurements/theoretical values of maximum stress ranged from 0.95 to 1.13 following reinforcement. There was little or no change depending on the maximum stress and tension in the specimen (D160, Class 240) whose neutral axis and upper part had anchoring devices mounted prior to reinforcement. Rather, the ductility decreased with the increasing tension. On the contrary, in the case of the other specimen (Class D120) whose neutral axis had anchoring devices mounted after reinforcement, both the maximum stress and ductility increased with increasing tension, which indicates that the latter tension reinforcement was reasonably appropriate and effective for the neutral axis reinforcement.

This study discusses the inelastic behavior of single-layer latticed dome, which consists of a tubular truss member and newly proposed joint sections, through a loading test on a scaled-down structure. The loading test was performed under displacement control conditions, using loading transfer system for the same value of point loads on all joints. The maximum applied load was nearly 1.6 times of the design load, and structural failure occurred after exceeding the compressive yielding in some members. Structural displacement was maintained up to the limit of the oil jack. The behavior of the latticed dome from the loading test was analyzed according to the order of loading steps.

In this study, a computationally efficient parallel axial-flexural plastic hinge model is proposed for nonlinear dynamic progressive collapse analysis of welded steel moment frames. To this end, post-yield flexural behavior and the interaction of bending moment and axial force of the double-span beams in the column's missing event was first investigated by using material and geometric nonlinear parametric finite element analysis. A piece-wise linear parallel point hinge model that captures the moment-axial tension interaction was then proposed and applied to nonlinear dynamic progressive collapse analysis of welded steel moment frames with the use of the OpenSees Program. The accuracy as well as the efficiency of the proposed model was verified based on the inelastic dynamic finite element analysis results. The importance of including the catenary action effects for proper progressive collapse resistant analysis and design was also emphasized.

Hanger cables in suspension bridges are constrained by the horizontal clamp. So, the accuracy of estimated tension of hange cable using existing methods based on the simple mathematical model of singel cable decreases as the length of cable decreases because of the flexural rigidity. Therefore, back analysis and system identification techniques based on the finite element model are proposed recently. In this paper, the applicability of the back analysis and system identification techniques are compared using the hanger cable of Gang-An Bridge. The experimental results show that the back analysis and system identification techniques are more reliable than the existing string theory and linear regression method in the view point of the error of natural frequencies. However, the estimation error of tension can be varied according to the accuracy of finite element model in the model based methods. Especially, the boundary condition is more affective when the length of cable is short, so it is important to identify the boundary condition through experiment if it is possible. The tension estimation method using system identification technique is more attractive because it can easily consider the boundary condition and it is not sensitive to the number of input measured natural frequencies.

An intelligent control technique using a neural network is proposed for offshore structures exposed to sea-bed earthquakes. Fluid-structure interaction effect was considered in developing controller and a training algorithm for the neural network is presented. In the numerical example, the performance of the proposed neural network controller was compared with that of a passive controller and uncontrolled structures. Based on the example, it can be concluded that the proposed neuro-control scheme can be used for offshore structures with nonlinear characteristics due to its interaction with fluid.

A turn-buckle inserted between tension members sustaining structural loads in the suspension structure system is a device capable of adjusting the tensile force. However, it is difficult to measure the tensile force that is applied to the tension member with the use of a conventional turn-buckle. So a measurable turn-buckle for tensile force measurement has been developed to improve on such a problem. This study focuses on the prevention of a local yielding as well as the maximization of yielding load mentioned in previous studies. A new type of turn-buckle for the measurement to practical use is suggested over the tentative purpose. For this purpose, the ABAQUS analysis of specimens based on theoretical analysis and tests are carried out. The differences among the results of the theoretical analysis, ABAQUS analysis, and the test were insignificant.

Structural design of most nonprismatic Pre-Engineered Building Systems (PEBS) is performed using optimizing software developed in foreign countries. In this study, a structural optimizing software for the design of 3-D structures of nonprismatic PEBS is developed according to the allowable stress design method of AISC2005 and KBC. Optimizing structural design with nonprismatic members is carried out by repeating the process of structural analysis and member design to minimize the weight of a structure. According to the optimizing design results of 2-D and 3-D structures with nonprismatic members, there are considerable steel savings in designing structures with nonprismatic H-shaped built-up sections rather than with H-shaped rolled sections. When H-shaped built-up sections were used, the weight of the structural steel was reduced when AISC2005 specification rather than AISC1898 was used in the design. It is therefore concluded that utilizing the new AISC2005 specification is safer in preventingweb buckling because the height of a member is designed to be small despite some differences depending on the structural type.