Experimental Study on the Seismic Performance of New Energy Dissipation Connectors in an Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Panel with Assembled Steel Frame
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The main purpose of this paper is to study the seismic performance of AAC wall panels connected to steel frames with new energy dissipation connectors. In this paper, hook bolts and NEDC were used as variables to compare the horizontal low-cyclic loading tests. The results show that the NEDC have better energy dissipation capacity, reduce the damage of AAC wall panels, and effectively improve the seismic performance of the steel frame containing AAC wall panels. Article is under the scope of "Applied Sciences" journal and readers of this journal can get benefits from this study.
Comment 1:
Add the detailed dimensions of NEDC in Section 2.2.1.
Comment 2:
At line 183, does the wall panel joint mortar require curing? Add maintenance time if necessary.
Comment 3:
Improve the flow of information and replace old citation with latest ones. Objectives of study in all section must be clear.
Comment 4:
The conclusions should be extended with more discussion regarding the results, and future development.
Comment 5:
English writing of the manuscript needs a revision from a native English speaker.
Overall, the work is good, but the presentation and writing need improvement.
Author Response
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors experimentally studied a new energy dissipation connectiors for concrete panels. The experimental part of the study is good but there are missing issues to be solved before publication:
What is the dimension of bolts? How the bolt size was selected?
How did you do pretension to bolts?
There is no information how NEDC is design? How the thickness were calculated. What is the dimensions? Size of slot holes. The design of NEDC looks like T-stub connection. Please check and include this your study: the effects of stiffener configuration on stiffened T-stubs; the capacities of unstiffened T-stubs with thin plates and large bolts; the capacities of thin plated stiffened T-stubs; the plastic and the ultimate resistance of four-bolt extended end-plate connections
In order to stregnth the statement of "it can control the fixationand sliding effects during multiple earthquakes, deformation and energy dissipationeffects during fortified earthquakes, and displacement and restraint effects duringrare earthquakes using bolt preload and friction coefficients" the following refs should be also added here: a new replaceable fuse for moment resisting frames: replaceable bolted reduced beam section connections; mid-spliced end-plated replaceable links for eccentrically braced frames
The slot in NEDC will affect friction gained by pretension.
The results are good but how an engineer will design such as system? There is no design guide
Author Response
Reply to Reviewer
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your time involved in reviewing the manuscript and your very professional comments on the shortcoming.
We appreciate your clear and detailed feedback and hope that the explanation has fully addressed all of your concerns. In the remainder of this letter, we discuss each of your comments individually along with our corresponding responses.
To facilitate this discussion, we first retype your comments in italic font and then present our responses to the comments.
The authors experimentally studied a new energy dissipation connectiors for concrete panels. The experimental part of the study is good but there are missing issues to be solved before publication:
Comment 1:
What is the dimension of bolts? How the bolt size was selected?
Response 1: Thank you for your careful reading. In the experiments we used bolts with a diameter of 14mm. The bolt with a diameter of 14mm is the bolt size commonly used in external AAC wall panels and is also the size of the hook head bolt in the comparison experiment. In future use, the bolt size can be adjusted according to the different sizes of AAC wall panels and the most appropriate bolt size can be used for installation.
Comment 2:
How did you do pretension to bolts?
Response 2: During construction and installation, the bolts are tightened with a digital torque wrench, and the tightening torque of the bolts linking the main structure of NEDC and AAC wall panels is Mv, and the preload force Pv is applied in the bolts.
Where: σv is the construction stage NEDC connector and the main structure interface distribution of stress; Av is the NEDC connector and external wall plate contact area.
Comment 3:
There is no information how NEDC is design? How the thickness were calculated. What is the dimensions? Size of slot holes. The design of NEDC looks like T-stub connection. Please check and include this your study: the effects of stiffener configuration on stiffened T-stubs; the capacities of unstiffened T-stubs with thin plates and large bolts; the capacities of thin plated stiffened T-stubs; the plastic and the ultimate resistance of four-bolt extended end-plate connections.
Response 3: Thanks to the reviewer for the reminder. The design dimensional data for NEDC has been supplemented by the inclusion of Figure 2 in the text, which shows the thickness, dimensions, and slot dimensions of NEDC. New references citation has been added in the paper.
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Figure 2. Dimensional drawing of the new energy dissipation connector: (a) Front View; (b) Overhead view; (c) Side view.
[13] Özkılıç, Yasin. The effects of stiffener configuration on stiffened T stubs. Steel and Composite Structures[J]. Steel and Composite Structures, 2022, 44: 475-488.
[14] Yasin Onuralp Özkılıç, The capacities of unstiffened T-stubs with thin plates and large bolts[J].Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 2021, Volume 186, 106908, ISSN 0143-974X.
[15] Yasin Onuralp Özkılıç, The capacities of thin plated stiffened T-stubs[J]. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 2021, Volume 186, 106912, ISSN 0143-974X.
[16] Yasin Onuralp Özkılıç, Cem Topkaya. The plastic and the ultimate resistance of four-bolt extended end-plate connections[J]. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 2021, Volume 181, 106614, ISSN 0143-974X.
Comment 4:
In order to stregnth the statement of "it can control the fixationand sliding effects during multiple earthquakes, deformation and energy dissipationeffects during fortified earthquakes, and displacement and restraint effects duringrare earthquakes using bolt preload and friction coefficients" the following refs should be also added here: a new replaceable fuse for moment resisting frames: replaceable bolted reduced beam section connections; mid-spliced end-plated replaceable links for eccentrically braced frames.
Response 4: We thank the reviewers for their very professional advice. Based on the reviewer's suggestion, relevant literature citations have been added for reference comparison.
[25] Özkılıç, Yasin. A new replaceable fuse for moment resisting frames: Replaceable bolted reduced beam section connections[J]. Steel and Composite Structures, 2020, 35. 353-370.
[26] Yasin Onuralp Özkılıç, Mehmet Bakır Bozkurt, Cem Topkaya, Mid-spliced end-plated replaceable links for eccentrically braced frames[J]. Engineering Structures, 2021, Volume 237, 112225, ISSN 0141-0296.
Comment 5:
The slot in NEDC will affect friction gained by pretension.
Response 5: The reviewer gave a very professional opinion. Considering that the slotted hole of NEDC affects the friction of the bolt, we designed the slotted hole of NEDC 2mm larger than the bolt diameter to reduce the influence of the slot of NEDC on the bolt. Therefore, a 14mm diameter bolt with a slot size of 16mm was used in the test.
Comment 6:
The results are good but how an engineer will design such as system? There is no design guide.
Response 6: AAC wall panels are a brittle building material. General connectors can easily cause damage to the wall panels during installation, making the overall performance of AAC wall panels degrade. AAC wall panels are installed in two ways: inline and outline. NEDC is the connection piece that connects the external AAC wall panel to the steel frame. In the case of an earthquake, the seismic transverse waves reduce the effect of the seismic transverse waves by allowing the bolts to move through the transverse bolt holes in the lower part of the NEDC. The seismic longitudinal waves cause the bolts to move in the vertical bolt holes in the upper part of the NEDC to reduce the effect of vertical seismic waves. Achieve the purpose of reducing earthquake energy and protecting the integrity of the building.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your time involved and this great opportunity for us to improve the manuscript. We hope you will find this revised version satisfactory.
Sincerely,
The Authors
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Paper is well written. Abstract needs to be more precise and brief.
Introduction section needs to be more focused on highlighting the research gap.
Novelty needs to be highlighted.
Need to update the references. some of the latest references needs to be incorporated.
Heading 2.2.3 needs more details about experimental program.
Table 4 needs more details discussion on it.
stiffness degradation should be discussed more and its importance.
Results section needs to be strengthen and supported by providing comparison with the previous studies.
conclusion section needs to be rewritten and highlight important findings of this study.
Author Response
Reply to Reviewer
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your time involved in reviewing the manuscript and your very professional comments on the shortcoming.
We appreciate your clear and detailed feedback and hope that the explanation has fully addressed all of your concerns. In the remainder of this letter, we discuss each of your comments individually along with our corresponding responses.
To facilitate this discussion, we first retype your comments in italic font and then present our responses to the comments.
Comment 1: Paper is well written. Abstract needs to be more precise and brief.
Response 1: Thank you for your suggestion, we have trimmed the summary section. This makes the abstract look more precise and brief. It makes the whole article look more professional
Comment 2: Introduction section needs to be more focused on highlighting the research gap.
Response 2: We thank the reviewers for their careful reading and suggestions. The authors have made changes to the introductory section by adding new references and highlighting the differences from previous studies. This makes the introductory section more focused on highlighting gaps with previous studies.
Comment 3: Novelty needs to be highlighted.
Response 3: Thank you for your professional advice. The novelty of this paper lies in the design and testing of the NEDC, which is the connection between the external AAC wall panel and the steel frame. AAC wall panels are a brittle building material. General connectors can easily cause damage to the wall panels during installation, making the overall performance of AAC wall panels degrade. AAC wall panels are installed in two ways: inline and outline. NEDC is the connection piece that connects the external AAC wall panel to the steel frame. In the case of an earthquake, the seismic transverse waves reduce the effect of the seismic transverse waves by allowing the bolts to move through the transverse bolt holes in the lower part of the NEDC. The seismic longitudinal waves cause the bolts to move in the vertical bolt holes in the upper part of the NEDC to reduce the effect of vertical seismic waves. Achieve the purpose of reducing earthquake energy and protecting the integrity of the building. The line74-83 places in the paper are emphasized. The novelty of the article is highlighted.
Comment 4: Need to update the references. some of the latest references needs to be incorporated.
Response 4: Thank you for your professional advice. In the revision, some updated references have been added to the paper. They have been highlighted in the text in the appropriate places. Reviewers are invited to review.
Comment 5: Heading 2.2.3 needs more details about experimental program.
Response 5: We thank the reviewers for their suggestions. Based on your suggestion, we have added details related to the test in section 2.2.3, including the process of preloading, the installation of displacement gauges, and the use of the crack observer. The addition of this part of the description makes the whole test procedure more specific and detailed.
Comment 6: Table 4 needs more details discussion on it.
Response 6: Thank you for your suggestions. Based on your suggestions, we have discussed Table 4 in more detail. The description is as follows.
“Table 4 summarizes the three special points on the skeleton curve, which indicate the yielding load and the yielding displacement, the ultimate load and the ultimate displacement, and the damage load and the damage displacement of SF-1 and SF-2 at PD and ND, respectively. In the PD direction, the yielding load of SF-2 is increased by 8.38% compared to SF-1. The yielding displacement of SF-2 is increased by 2.53 mm compared to SF-1. In the ND direction, the yielding load of SF-2 is 11.65% higher than that of SF-1, and the yielding displacement of SF-2 is 0.23 mm greater than that of SF-1. In the ultimate case, the bearing capacity of specimen SF-2 in the PD direction increased by 14.18 kN and the displacement increased by 14.34 mm compared with that of SF-1. In the ND direction, the ultimate bearing capacity of SF-2 increased by 16.53kN and the displacement increased by 0.33mm compared with SF-1. The damage load capacity of specimen SF-2 in the PD direction increased by 12.06 kN and the displacement increased by 24.72 mm compared with SF-1. In the ND direction, the damage load capacity of SF-2 increased by 14.04 kN and the damage displacement increased by 24.87 mm compared with SF-1.”
Comment 7: stiffness degradation should be discussed more and its importance.
Response 7: Thank you for your suggestion, which is very important. The stiffness degradation and its importance has been further discussed and explained in the article line 413-418 and marked in red. Hopefully, this improvement will make the discussion of stiffness in the article more complete.
Comment 8: Results section needs to be strengthen and supported by providing comparison with the previous studies.
Response 8: Thank you for your suggestion. Very few previous studies have investigated the seismic performance of AAC wall panel connectors. So there is not a lot of references to the literature data. We have added some similar references to supplement.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your time involved and this great opportunity for us to improve the manuscript. We hope you will find this revised version satisfactory.
Sincerely,
The Authors
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors completed the requests of the reviewer.
The paper can be concepted in this current form.
