Design and cyclic testing of a gusset plate connection for precast concrete buckling-restrained braced frames

A design method for precast concrete buckling-re-strained braced frames Garywith J. Klen,traditional PE, is gusst executivplate connections has not yetvice been presidentcodif ied.and In senioraddition, prin experimental data for forthis Wiss,novel Janney,system areElstner lacking. The primary objective ofAssociates this Inc.research in were Northbrook,to do theIll following:Design and experimentally test a partial system under representative seismic loads.center dot Determine the applicability of the uniform force ywordsmethod (UFM) for connection interface force distribution.A quasi-static cyclic test was performed on a scaled, partialRev ewsystem. policyExperimental results showed that the UFM alone does not accurately predict interface forces forBody this textsystem because the method does not account for frame action. Results also showed that there is someReaderchange in columncommentsbase fixity as the frame un-dergoes larger horizontal displacements. This was the firstBody U.S.text laboratory test on a scaled, partial version of this system. Development of a codified design method would require further testing to determine an appropri-ate interface force distribution and quantify the change in column base fixity.