Experimental and Parametric Study on Seismic Behavior of Steel Frame with ALC Panels

This paper presents a new type of connector which is used in prefabricated structures for attaching the autoclaved lightweight concrete panels to the steel frame. The new type of connector is composed of an L-node plate and a Z-node plate and is termed as the “pendulous Z-plate connector”. For examining the seismic behavior of the new connector, two full-scale steel frames with cladding panel walls, in which the ALC panels are connected to the steel frame by both classical and new connectors, were tested under quasi-static loading. The failure mode, hysteresis performance, energy dissipation, and stiffness degradation of the structures were measured and compared. The experimental results indicate that the new connector facilitates a better structural performance of cladding panel walls than the classical connector in terms of the coordinating deformation, the energy dissipation, and the load-carrying capacity at the yielding and the ultimate stages. In addition, for in-depth analysis of the failure mechanism, the finite element modeling was conducted and validated based on the comparison with the experimental results. Further parametric studies are carried out to find out the effect of bolt grades on the structure.

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