Behavior of Shear Link of WFSection with Diagonal Web Stiffener of Eccentrically Braced Frame (EBF) of Steel Structure

This paper presents results of numerical and experimental study of shear link behavior, utilizing diagonal stiffener on web of steel profile to increase shear link performance in an eccentric braced frame (EBF) of a steel structure system. The specimen is to examine the behavior of shear link by using diagonal stiffener on web part under static monotonic and cyclic load. The cyclic loading pattern conducted in the experiment is adjusted according to AISC loading standards 2005. Analysis was carried out using non-linear finite element method using MSC/NASTRAN software. Link was modeled as CQUAD shell element. Along the boundary of the loading area the nodal are constraint to produce only one direction loading. The length of the link in this analysis is 400mm of the steel profile of WF 200.100. Important parameters considered to effect significantly to the performance of shear link have been analyzed, namely flange and web thicknesses, thickness and length of web stiffener, thickness of diagonal stiffener and geometric of diagonal stiffener. The behavior of shear link with diagonal web stiffener was compared with the behavior of standard link designed based on AISC 2005 criteria. Analysis results show that diagonal web stiffener is capable to increase shear link performance in terms of stiffness, strength and energy dissipation in supporting lateral load. However, differences in displacement ductility's between shear links with diagonal stiffener and shear links based on AISC standards have not shown to be significant. Analysis results also show thickness of diagonal stiffener and geometric model of stiffener to have a significant influence on the performance of shear links. To perform validation of the numerical study, the research is followed by experimental work conducted in Structural Mechanic Laboratory Center for Industrial Engineering ITB. The Structures and Mechanics Lab rotary PAU-ITB. The experiments were carried out using three test specimens with model and dimension identical to the model in the numerical study. Experimental testing apparently has shown results of the same behavior as predicted in the numerical study. However, when it is compared to the shape of the hysterical curve, a slight difference is apparent. This is due to the influence of stiffness of bolt joints and the supports which is difficult to model precisely in the numerical studies.