Experimental study on seismic behavior of BRB-RC frame sub-structure with controllable bending failure mode
To effectively prevent the buckling-restrained braced reinforced concrete(BRB-RC)frame substructure from shear or flexural-shear failure caused by frame action prior to the BRB,a controllable failure mode design method based on a novel sliding gusset connection was proposed.The method addresses problems of the current siding gusset connection,such as the limited bearing capacity of the anchorage plate and the unreasonable design of the shear capacity of substructure beams.Quasi-static tests were conducted on five full-scale BRB-RC subassemblages,one with a traditional connection and the others with the proposed sliding gusset connection to verify the effectiveness of the sliding gusset connection and the design method.The failure modes,hysteresis behavior and energy dissipation capacity of sub-structure were investigated.It is shown that the sliding gusset connection has stable performance and could significantly reduce the shear force of the sub-structure beam and plastic damage level.The energy dissipation proportion of the BRB significantly increases.The additional rebars and longitudinal distribution rebars at the beam end can effectively enhance the shear capacity of the sub-structure beam within gusset plate region,thus realizing the bending failure mode.