Preliminary Finite Element Analyses on Seismic Resistant FREE from DAMage Beam to Column Joints under Impact Loading

Nowadays, the interest on structural robustness is increasing because of the recent terroristic attacks. Although a large number of research projects have been carried out in this field, limited design guidelines as well as code recommendations are nowadays available. Leading to the fact that the design for robustness is far from being current practice. Conversely, the design for natural hazards as the earthquake is a well-consolidated practice and modern codes implement effective and well-recognized design rules. Even though seismic design philosophy based on the concept of hierarchy of resistance enables structural robustness for conventional structural systems, this is not demonstrated for structures equipped with anti-seismic devices as well as innovative dissipative systems. Recently, the use of friction based dissipative joints has been proved to be a promising solution for seismically design steel moment resisting frames. However, the robustness and the resistance against impact loading of this type of joints is not yet investigated. With the aim to develop an experimental campaign based on impact tests, preliminary finite element analyses have been carried out to identify the main criticisms and to drive the rational design of the joint specimens. With this regard, in the present paper, the results of a numerical parametric study on the preliminary push-down test are presented and discussed.