ABSTRACT
Tests were conducted on two prototype steel shear links for the signature tower of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The links are built-up wide-flange sections, designed to yield in shear. A quasi-static loading protocol was used to test the links in reverse curvature. The link capacities exceeded the predicted demands from the Safety Evaluation Earthquake. The specimens behaved in a ductile manner until small cracks initiated at the end of the vertical fillet welds connecting the transverse stiffeners to the link web. As the cracks propagated further, brittle fracture of the link web ensued. Alleviating the stress concentration at the end of the transverse stiffener vertical fillet welds is necessary to avoid brittle fracture and to increase the link deformation capacity. Analysis and laboratory experimentation showed that offsetting the transverse stiffener vertical fillet welds from the web-flange-stiffener intersection reduced the demand at the weld end, thereby increasing the link deformation capacity.
