Seismic Performance of an Exterior Joint between a Square Steel Tube Column and an H-Shape Steel Beam
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This study conduct an experiment on seismic performance of square steel tub column-H-shape steel beam mid-column joints with one-side bolts connection.
In general, the topic is very specify and sounds interesting.
1. In order to visulize the experiment better, I suggest the authors to make an 3D model to show the assemply of the steel components and location of the load.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This study intends to evaluate seismic performance of semi-rigid mid-column joints experimentally. The topic is interesting and applicable; however, it is questionable whether this study falls in the scope of the journal or not. Moreover, based on the following comments, the manuscript in its present form is not suitable for publication in my opinion. Therefore I would like to suggest major revision.
- Abstract should be rewritten to demonstrate a brief view of the study and its main findings.
- The English language of the manuscript requires considerable improvement. Many sentences have incorrect structure or even are incomplete! Multiple readings are required to understand parts of the text.
- The literature review should be improved considerably. It is not sufficient to just cite a number of refs. Each reference and its major findings should be explained clearly.
- An important part of this study which is missing in the current version of manuscript is the research significance and objectives, which should be presented in the last paragraph of the introduction section.
- It is mentioned that the tested joint specimens are taken form a multi-story structure. The details of the design procedure for the joints should be presented in the manuscript (especially what are the design criteria and standards and also the force demands at the joint).
- In the following, you can find some suggestions that provided to improve the text:
- Retrofitting of core reinforced concrete shear wall system with opening using steel plates and FRP sheets, A case study. International Journal of Steel Structures 2022
- Improving seismic performance of composite steel plate shear walls containing openings. Journal of Building Engineering, 2019
- Nonlinear seismic analysis of composite coupled shear walls strengthened by cfrp sheets. ssrn 4127770, 2023
- If the values reported in Table 2 are the average of tested performed on multiple samples, it is necessary to report the standard deviations as well.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
This study conducted tests of the seismic performance of semi-rigid mid-column joints connected the square steel tube column and H-shaped steel beam. The failure characteristics, hysteretic performance and the strain tendency of the joint were investigated. The topic of this manuscript is interesting. However, there are some flaws in the manuscript. Some specific comments are shown as follow.
1. There is already an updated version of Chinese Code for Acceptance of Construction Quality of Steel Structures in 2020. Why did the 2001 version of the specification be used in the manuscript?
2. What is the meaning of “joyous bending moment” in line 186.
3. In line 223, the author mentions "the overall ductility of the joint is better." What is the reason that the authors get the conclusion. The data should be analyzed and the reason should be provided for the conclusions.
4. Is the value he of the east beam wrong?
5. The calculation method of the energy dissipation coefficient and equivalent viscous damping coefficient in Table 6 should be explained in detail.
6. Since the author only tested one specimen, the conclusion obtained is too far-fetched.
7. The manuscript should be carefully revised. The language of the manuscript should be further improved.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
The English requires some help from professional editor.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
