Experimental study of cyclic behavior of composite vertical shear link in eccentrically braced frames

This paper is an experimental study on the behavior of vertical shear link in normal (steel section with and without stiffener) and composite (steel section with concrete located at the area limited to web and flanges of the section) configurations. This study is mainly aimed to perceive failure mechanism, collect laboratory data, and consider the effect of number of transverse reinforcements on strength and ductility of composite vertical links. There have been four specimens selected for examining the effects of different details. The first specimen was an I section with no stiffener, the second composed of I section with stiffeners provided according to AISC 2005. The third and fourth specimens were composed of l sections with reinforced concrete located at the area between its flanges and web. The tests carried out were of quasi-static type and conducted on full scale specimens. Experimental findings show remarkable increase in shear capacity and ductility of the composite links as compared to the normal specimens.