14th World Conference on Seismic Isolation, Energy Dissipation and Active Vibration Control of Structures September 9-11 2015 San Diego, Ca USA 1 BI-DIRECTIONAL LOADING TESTS OF STEEL CUSHIONS Hasan ÖZKAYNAK Asst. Prof. Department of Civil Engineering, Beykent University 34936 Ayazağa, Istanbul, Turkey hasanozkaynak@beykent.edu.tr Ahmet GÜLLÜ, Arastoo KHAJEHDEHI, Tansu GÖKÇE, Faraz AZİZİSALES Ph.D. Candidate, ITU Graduate School of Science, Eng. and Tech. 34469 Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey ahmetgullu@itu.edu.tr arastookhajehdehi@yahoo.com tansugokce@gmail.com civil_fas@yahoo.com İ. Engin BAL Asst. Prof., Earthquake Eng. & Dissaster Manag. Institute, Istanbul Technical University 34469 Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey iebal@itu.edu.tr Eleni SMYROU Asst. Prof., Faculty of Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University 34469 Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey esmyrou@itu.edu.tr Ercan YÜKSEL Assoc. Prof., Faculty of Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University 34469 Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey yukselerc@itu.edu.tr Faruk KARADOĞAN Emer. Prof., Faculty of Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University 34469 Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey karadogan@itu.edu.tr ABSTRACT – SAFECLADDING is an intensive research activity that has been initiated in the scope of FP7 research project aiming to evaluate the earthquake performance of the existing connections of Reinforced Concrete (RC) cladding systems and to develop novel connection elements to be used in the precast industry. The steel cushions those were produced from the bended steel plates, positioned to different locations of cladding systems are subjected to shear accompanying tension or compression forces. Particularly for the panel to foundation connection, there is a need to determine the bi-axial loading behavior of the steel cushions. Several steel cushions were tested in Structural and Earthquake Engineering Laboratory of Istanbul Technical University. Shear behaviors of steel cushions is studied for varying intensity of axial loading. Bi-directional tests were performed for three different thickness of 3, 5 and 8 mm. The axial load intensities were determined from the uni-axial load bearing tests for each type of specimens. The tests showed that axial stress is highly effective on the bi-axial loading capacity of the steel cushions. Under the effect of compression loads the relatively thinner specimen behaves in much more stable manner than the thicker specimen.