Development of Bolted End Plate Connections for Steel Reinforced Concrete Composite Structures

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Development of Bolted End Plate Connections for Steel Reinforced Concrete Composite Structures Abstract (press-release format for general public) The most significant lesson learned from the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the 1995 Kobe earthquake was the cracking and brittle failure of welded moment connections of modern steel buildings. The structural engineering communities have since been working on development of improved designs. One possible solution for making steel structures more resistant to earthquakes is to combine concrete and steel to take the advantages of each material. Professors Xiao and Anderson at the University of Southern California have conceived several new details to achieve this. They proposed to use bolted steel and concrete composite connections instead of traditional welded connection to improve constructability and meanwhile to ensure excellent seismic behavior for building structures. In the proposed project, they plan to prove their ideas through experimental testing and analysis.