Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a Bolted Angle Connector Beam-to-Column Joint with a Stiffener

The seismic performance of a proposed bolted angle connector beam-to-column joint with a stiffener (hereinafter referred to as a BACS joint) was investigated utilizing quasi-static tests on six specimens with H-shaped steel members. The failure modes, hysteretic curves, skeleton curves, stiffness degradation, and energy dissipation capacity were analyzed. The test results indicated that the BACS joint exhibited a 28.1% higher moment resistance and a 12.6% greater equivalent viscous damping coefficient compared to a welded connection with the same specifications. Furthermore, when compared to a short-beam spliced connection with comparable steel consumption, the BACS joint demonstrated advantages in both the load-bearing capacity and the energy dissipation. The numerical analysis results based on ABAQUS software demonstrated that increasing the stiffener height could not only enhance the bending capacity and stiffness of the connection, but also promote the relocation of the plastic hinge towards the beam end, thereby improving the failure mode. The increase in the stiffener thickness led to a minor improvement in the bending capacity of the connection, yet the influence of the stiffener thickness on the connection stiffness was limited. Furthermore, the use of steel with a higher strength grade could substantially increase the bending capacity of the BACS joint, while the enhancement in stiffness was relatively modest. Therefore, economic considerations should be integrated into the engineering design process.