Comparative study on code based analysis of steel moment resisting connections

Abstract

Moment resisting connections are usually designed as simple or continuous although the actual behavior is known to fall between these two extreme cases. The use of semi- continuous connection results substantial savings in steel weight of the overall construction. Extended endplate and Flush end plate connections are the widely used type of connections in steel frame construction. To understand the real behavior of semi- continuous connection, full scale laboratory test is the most accurate approach, but it is time consuming and costly to undertake. Therefore other methods were developed to predict the capacity of connections. Thus, in this study three EEP and three FEP connections were analyzed using two standards (BS 5950 Part 1: 2000 and EC 3– with UK national application document). A method proposed by Steel Construction Institute (SCI) was taken into account for analyzing. The results obtained from the numerical analysis were then compared with the existing experimental test results on the resistance of moment and mode of failure to determine the accuracy of numerical analysis. Comparison between the results from numerical analysis and experiment results satisfactorily agreed.