Experimental investigation on seismic response of exterior RCS beam-column connection

This paper presents an experimental study on seismic performance of a new type of exterior RCS connection to which steel profile encased in RC column is directly welded to the steel beam. A full scale exterior hybrid joint was tested under reversed-cyclic loading. Seismic performance in term of load bearing capacity, story drift capacity, ductility, energy dissipation and stiffness degradation were evaluated. Test specimen showed a stable overall response to cyclic load reversals. The experimental results indicated that the test specimen performed in a ductile manner and the stiffness degradation during the cycles performed was gradual. It was concluded that the studied RCS joint could be used as dissipative element in DCM structures