Cyclic behaviour of welded stainless steel beam-to-column connections: Experimental and numerical study

This paper presents an experimental and numerical programme on six welded stainless steel beam-to-column connections subjected to cyclic loading. The test specimens were designed in accordance with Eurocodes and comprised an I-section beam made from 316 L stainless steel welded to an I-section column made from 304 L stainless steel. Each specimen was subjected to a quasi-static cyclic loading protocol and the load-displacement curves are monitored and reported. The results are analysed in terms of failure characteristics, skeleton curve, strain distribution and energy dissipation. Typical failure modes are combined global flexural and torsional buckling and localised web and flange buckling of the beams. The slope of skeleton curve in the hardening region and the energy dissipation capacity appeared to reduce with the section size. Numerical models capable of successfully replicating the experimentally observed response were developed. The load-displacement behaviour and the failure pattern were compared to the experimental ones, showing a good validation. Overall, it has been demonstrated that good hysteretic performance has been achieved for the welded stainless steel beam-to-column connections.