Bolted end plate beam to column connections – are they semi rigid?

Abstract

The most commonly used moment resisting connections are bolted end plate beam to column connections. 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, Flush end plate and partial depth 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 48 extended end plate and 48 flush end plate connections are analyzed to find the connection’s behavior with variations in bolt diameter, end plate thickness, and grade (4.6/8.8) and bolt gauge length. A method proposed by Steel Construction Institute (SCI) is taken into account for analyzing. The analyzed connections are classified based on strength and stiffness.