Experimental Behaviour of Sustainable Flush End Plate Beam-to-Column Composite Joints with Deconstructable Bolted Shear Connectors

This paper presents the results of static tests conducted on four full-scale Flush End Plate Semi-Rigid (FEPSR) beam-to-column joints in a novel deconstructable and sustainable structural system. In this system, precast Green Concrete (GC) slabs having reduced CO2 emissions during their manufacture are attached compositely to the steel beam using a novel method of shear connection that takes advantage of Post-installed Friction-grip Bolted Shear Connectors (PFBSCs) and the composite steel beams are connected to concrete-filled steel tubular columns (CFSTs) using flush end plates with blind bolts. The proposed structural system can be deconstructed at the end of its service life that allow for minimising demolition waste and maximising of component recycling. The test results show that these novel composite joints have credible rotation and moment capacities according to EC3 and EC4, and fracture of the joints occurs after the development of substantial rotation

Keywords:

Blind bolt , Bolted shear connectors , Concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) , Semi-rigid beam-to-column joint , Deconstructability