Testing of a Full-Scale Steel Braced Frame Equipped with Cast ConneX® High-Strength Connectors™

Testing of a full-scale steel braced frame equipped with High-Strength Connectors was carried out at the structures laboratories at École Polytechnique Montréal. This video shows the quasi-static cyclic test performed on the vertical steel braced frame using twin 225 kip (1,000 kN) actuators.

The test shown follows the symmetrical testing protocol outlined in Appendix T of the AISC Seismic Provisions. As testing was quasi-static, the video has been sped up 100 times.

A report on this testing has been published jointly by École Polytechnique de Montréal and the University of Toronto. All publications are available for download at www.castconnex.com.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• seismic
• testing
• braced frame
• CBF
• steel

[CastConneX]

During frame excursions that result in compressive loading of the brace, the brace buckles out-of-plane of the frame forming plastic hinges in the gusset plates, beyond the ends of the connectors, and a plastic hinge at the center of the brace. If you watch carefully during frame excursions that result in tensile loading of the brace, you can actually see the brace get narrower (dilate) as it yields.

[asixth]

I can't quite make out what's happening, is the strut moving in and out of the plane and why don't they simulate the movements back and forth like an earthquake event.