Experimental test on the effect of onsite welding of steel plates for a joint between concrete columns and a steel belt truss

To connect exterior reinforced concrete (RC) columns with the steel belt truss, the gusset plates are welded to the steel plates embedded in the RC column. Then, the concrete around an embedded plate is very likely to be damaged by the heat input from a long-time (6 to 48 hours) welding of the embedded and gusset plates at a joint between RC columns and steel belt truss. However, very few studies have assessed the concrete damage caused by the welding heat between embedded and gusset plates, and no clear onsite solution has been found. In this paper, experimental tests have been carried out on 4 full-scale specimen to analyze the effect of long-time (about 6 hours) onsite welding (1-side welding and 3-side welding) between a gusset plate and an embedded plate in high strength concrete with compressive strength of 55 MPa and 80 MPa on RC columns. The effect of the long-time welding heat of embedded and gusset plates, which are used in real high-rise building construction sites, on concrete is analyzed in terms of the following three items: 1) temperature distribution, 2) pattern and characteristics of cracks, and 3) effect of the cracks on the compressive strength of RC column. Based on the experimental results, even though the heat input up to about 150? from the long-time onsite welding on the high-strength concrete column for the joint could result in concrete cracks in a radial form, it is found that the welding cracks have no effect on the axial stiffness and strength of the concrete column.