Enhancement of the Sliding Hinge Joint Connection with Belleville Springs
type: CreativeWork
description: The Sliding Hinge Joint (SHJ) was conceived and initially developed by Charles Clifton from 1998 to 2005 and is now in use in over NZD 4 billion of new buildings. It is a low damage semi-rigid beam to column connection for MRSF seismic-resisting systems, that is intended to be rigid under serviceability conditions, become semi-rigid allowing column to beam relative rotation to occur in a severe earthquake and, at the end of the earthquake, seize up and become rigid again. A further desired criterion is that the MRSF has dynamic self-centring properties so that the post-earthquake residual drift of the building is sufficiently low not to require remedial straightening. Subsequent research under the supervision of Charles Clifton has shown that the post sliding strength and stiffness of the SHJ connection developed by Clifton is appreciably reduced, to the point where re-tightening or replacement of the bolts is likely to be necessary following a severe earthquake. This means the joint still falls short of meeting one of the key original low damage performance requirements of not requiring any structural intervention following a severe earthquake. Indications from research at the Universities of Auckland and Canterbury were that this loss of post sliding strength could be reduced with Belleville Springs, however these could reduce the self-centring ability of the MRSF. Determining the optimum combination of post sliding strength and stiffness retention and self-centring ability was not straight-forward and was the principal focus of this research project. Given the proven attractiveness of the SHJ to engineers and clients, this research work has been of high priority to generate the low damage performance from new SHJ systems that the profession and end-users have been expecting and which current systems will not fully deliver. This research has been undertaken into the highest priority areas identified for further development of the SHJ by previous and ongoing resear…
abstract: The Sliding Hinge Joint (SHJ) was conceived and initially developed by Charles Clifton from 1998 to 2005 and is now in use in over NZD 4 billion of new buildings. It is a low damage semi-rigid beam to column connection for MRSF seismic-resisting systems, that is intended to be rigid under serviceability conditions, become semi-rigid allowing column to beam relative rotation to occur in a severe earthquake and, at the end of the earthquake, seize up and become rigid again. A further desired criterion is that the MRSF has dynamic self-centring properties so that the post-earthquake residual drift of the building is sufficiently low not to require remedial straightening. Subsequent research under the supervision of Charles Clifton has shown that the post sliding strength and stiffness of the SHJ connection developed by Clifton is appreciably reduced, to the point where re-tightening or replacement of the bolts is likely to be necessary following a severe earthquake. This means the joint still falls short of meeting one of the key original low damage performance requirements of not requiring any structural intervention following a severe earthquake. Indications from research at the Universities of Auckland and Canterbury were that this loss of post sliding strength could be reduced with Belleville Springs, however these could reduce the self-centring ability of the MRSF. Determining the optimum combination of post sliding strength and stiffness retention and self-centring ability was not straight-forward and was the principal focus of this research project. Given the proven attractiveness of the SHJ to engineers and clients, this research work has been of high priority to generate the low damage performance from new SHJ systems that the profession and end-users have been expecting and which current systems will not fully deliver. This research has been undertaken into the highest priority areas identified for further development of the SHJ by previous and ongoing resear…
author: Ramhormozian, Shahab
license: https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm
date published: 2018
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:02:59Z
provider: University of Auckland
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: ResearchSpace@Auckland

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2292/37485