Development of new inner diaphragms for a H-beam and composite box column joint

This paper presents an experimental and a numerical investigation of a H-beam – composite box column joint fabricated with two new inner diaphragms and a continuous inner diaphragm. The main objective of the current research project is to investigate the structural performance of the newly developed inner diaphragms under a cyclic loading protocol. Hysteretic behaviour of the composite joints is analysed to investigate the structural performance of the new and continuous inner diaphragms. This paper compares the result of the finite element (FE) models with the new and continuous inner diaphragms against their counterpart experimental results. To produce a design criterion for the newly developed inner diaphragms, yielding or failure area of the inner diaphragms under tensile stress is analysed from the FE results.