Experimental study on through-beam connection system for concrete filled steel tube column-RC beam

A new through-beam connection system for a concrete filled steel tube column to RC beam is proposed. In this connection, there are openings on the steel tube while the reinforced concrete beams are continuous in the joint zone. The moment and shear force at the beam ends can be transferred to column by continuous rebar and concrete. The weakening of the axial load and shear bearing capacity due to the opening of the steel tube can be compensated by strengthening steel tube at joint zone. Using this connection, construction of the joint can be made more convenient since welding and hole drilling in situ can be avoided. Axial compression and reversed cyclic loading tests on specimens were carried out to evaluate performance of the new beam-column connection. Load-deflection performance, typical failure modes, stress and strain distributions, and the energy dissipation capacity were obtained. The experimental results showed that the new connection have good bearing capacity, superior ductility and energy dissipation capacity by effectively strengthen the steel tube at joint zone. According to the test and analysis results, some suggestions were proposed to design method of this new connection.