Experimental study and numerical analysis on seismic behavior of composite <scp>RCS</scp> frames

Abstract

Abstract An experimental study of the seismic performance of composite frames consisting of reinforced concrete (RC) columns and steel beams (S) is presented in this paper. Three frame specimens—one bare composite RCS frame without slab and two composite RCS frames with slab—were tested under cyclic loading. The test results indicate that two frame specimens with small‐scale steel beams exhibited better ductile behavior and dissipated energy, and the strength and stiffness degradation of the postelastic stage was not obvious. The results indicate that using a slab in the frame is not a good way to improve structural bearing capacity when the linear stiffness of steel beams is large. A plastic limit analysis method is proposed to calculate the lateral ultimate bearing capacity of an RCS frame under seismic action. The calculated results agree well with the test. Three RCS frame specimens were simulated using ABAQUS finite element analysis software. A comparison of the results of the numerical study with the experimental results demonstrates that the finite element model can accurately predict the structural behavior.