Seismic Behavior of Steel Moment Frames with Mechanical Hinge Beam-to-Column Connections

This paper presents an investigation on the seismic behavior of steel moment frames with mechanical hinge beam-to-column connections. The connection uses a mechanical hinge to carry shear force and a pair of buckling-restrained steel plates bolted to the beam flange to transfer bending moment. The moment-rotation behavior of the connection was theoretically studied. A nonlinear numerical model for steel moment frames under strong earthquakes was developed and validated using a shaking table test of an 18-story steel moment frame at the E-Defense facility. Then, nonlinear static and time-history analyses were conducted to compare the seismic behavior of a conventional steel moment frame and three innovative steel frames equipped mechanical hinge connections in terms of roof displacement, base shear, inter-story drift ratio, and plastic hinge rotation.