Experimental behavior of screwed beam-to-column connections in cold-formed steel frames

In this study, the behavior of column-beam joints joined by smart screws in cold rolled steel structures were investigated. Although there are sufficient studies on traditionally used bolted joints in the current literature, it has been observed that there are limited studies on screw joints. In order to determine the structural behavior of the joints, a total of 12 experiments carried using 4 different thickness cold rolled double C section beam profiles and 3 different thickness gusset plates with different configurations. In those experiments, full scale samples were used to obtain the actual behavior of the joints. The behavior of the combination is analyzed by using moment-rotation curves and characteristic values such as stiffness, energy absorption capacity and ductility are examined and the resulting failure modes are interpreted. Experimental results showed that increase in beam profile thickness and gusset plate thickness had an effect on moment strength, rotational stiffness and rotational capacity.