Mechanical property of beam-to-column moment connection with hysteretic dampers for column weak axis

This paper presents a novel beam-to-column moment connection suitable for the column’s weak axis. The proposed system is developed in line with an idea to mainly utilize bolts with the number of welds minimized, thereby avoiding difficulties encountered in in situ welding. In this system, a wide-flange beam is joined to a wide-flange column by bolted splices at the top flange and newly invented hysteretic dampers at the bottom flange. The mechanical behavior of the damper and the whole connection system is described herein. The seismic performance of the proposed connection was verified through cyclic tests of six full-scale beam–column subassemblies, taking into account the effects of the geometry and arrangement of the dampers. The tests revealed that the proposed system is capable of achieving stable hysteresis behavior in a large deformation range. Yielding was limited only in the dampers while the beam and column remained essentially elastic until the ultimate state of the structure.