An Experimental Research on the Effect of Connection Types on Frame using Cold-Formed Steel

The growth of construction technology, innovations using cold-formed steel materials have begun to be developed in ordinary earthquake resistant buildings. In addition, those materials lighter and cheaper instead use conventional steel material. In building construction, the weakest part of the structure is the connections. Many cases of building failures occur due to collapse in the connection of structures. In this research an experimental study was carried out on frame structure using cold-formed steel with variations in the connection of beam-column given lateral loads as a representation of earthquake loads to determine the type of effective connection on the structural performance. Specimens in this study are one bay two stories frame with variations used are the type of connection of bolt-nut and self-drilling screw. Loading test is performed by giving lateral load at the upper end of one of the frame sides with a four steps cyclic load. From experimental test results found that in the push cycle, frame with bolt-nut connection has greater lateral load than model with self-drilling screw connection. In contrast to the pull cycle of model with bolt-nut connection has smaller lateral load compared to model with self-drilling screw connection. Frames with bolt-nut connections have better ability to dissipate energy compared to models with self-drilling screw connections. Compared to initial stiffness, the model with bolt-nut connection has greater decrease than model of self-drilling screw connection. However, in term of stiffness behavior, model with bolt-nut connection is more rigid compared to the model with self-drilling screw connection.