Experimental Program for Seismic Connections to Add Ductility to Cold-Formed Steel Panel

The purpose of this work is to explore connections that will perform elastically under normal loading conditions but will behave plastically when subjected to the higher forces experienced during an earthquake. These connections are vital to a framing system, and must provide sufficient ductility and strength for the cold-formed steel (CFS) building to remain standing throughout a seismic event. They must be economical to produce, and allow for ease of construction in the field.;The concept of using a yielding plate to add ductility to a connection is examined through the fabrication and testing of six different families of connections. The connection families were developed sequentially after lessons were learned from prior series. Each connection family utilized either small hot rolled steel plate or a short section of hollow structural steel (HSS) tube to provide the ductility in the connection. All connections were load tested cyclically and were subjected to a protocol of progressively increasing positive and negative displacements until the specimen failed. Failure mechanism, ultimate load capacity, and displacement were all evaluated to determine the suitability of each type of connection for further study, modification, rejection, or acceptance.