Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 304-315 (2025)
CYCLIC BEHAVIOR AND SHEAR CAPACITY OF A SINGLE-FRAME
MODULAR STEEL STRUCTURE–COLD-FORMED STEEL WALL
WITH SEMI-RIGID CONNECTIONS
Qing-Lin Wang 1, 2, Ji-Hong Ye 1, 2 and Ming-Zhou Su 3, 4, *
1 Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Disaster Impact and Intelligent Prevention in Civil Engineering,
China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
2 Xuzhou Key Laboratory for Fire Safety of Engineering Structures, China University of Mining and Technology,
Xuzhou 221116, China
3 School of Civil Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, China
4 Key Lab of Structural Engineering and Earthquake Resistance, Ministry of Education (XAUAT), Xi’an 710055, China
*(Corresponding author: E-mail:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Received: 24 November 2024; Revised: 3 January 2025; Accepted: 8 January 2025
DOI:10.18057/IJASC.2025.21.4.3
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ABSTRACT
Refined finite element models of a single frame comprising a modular steel structure–cold-formed steel wall (MSS-CFSW) with semi-rigid connections were established using connector parameters calibrated based on shear tests of self-drilling screw connections, then verified against existing test results. The influence of the vertical inter-module semi-rigid connection and steel frame stiffness on the cyclic behavior of the single MSS-CFSW frame was subsequently analyzed. The shear test results indicated that the direction of load relative to the plate edge significantly affected the shear performance of self-drilling screw connections near the edges. The model analysis results indicated that increasing the rotational stiffness and moment capacity provided by the semi-rigid connections increased the initial stiffness of the frame by 31.5% and its shear capacity by 20.2–79.4%; these connections restrained the single frame prior to yielding, but their effects could be disregarded afterwards. Increases in ceiling beam stiffness, floor beam stiffness, and column stiffness increased the shear capacity of the frame by 14.0–41.0%, 15.8–61.1%, and 2.2–6.5%, respectively, and its initial stiffness by 8.1–25.8%, 9.7–21.1%, and 9.9–25.4%, respectively. Finally, the semi-rigid connections were considered equivalent to rotational springs to derive an equation for the shear capacity of a single MSS-CFSW frame with semi-rigid connections and verify it against the numerical simulation results.
KEYWORDS
Semi-rigid connections, Modular steel structure, Numerical simulation, Cyclic behavior, Cold-formed steel wall
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