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A practical design approach to bolted end-plate vertical-slits RWS connection

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Abstract

Extensive research has been carried out on steel moment frames to improve the cyclic performance of seismic resisting connections with Reduced Beam Section (RBS). The lateral-torsional buckling and reducing of the flexural resistance of the beam are the disadvantages of conventional RBS connections with radial cutting in the flange. Therefore, some researchers have suggested the reducing of the web in lieu of the flange as an effective strategy to prevent these phenomena. The present study aims to investigate the cyclic behavior of the reduced web section (RWS) connections with vertical-slits (VS) as a cost-effective alternative with multiple design parameters through an experimental and numerical study. Two full-scale specimens of the bolted end-plate VS-RWS connection were experimentally tested under the SAC cyclic loading to evaluate the performance of connections, and then in order to obtain proper ranges for the geometric design parameters, a parametric study was carried out using the verified numerical models. The parameters consist of the distance between the column face and the beginning of the reduced region, the length of the reduced region, as well as the depth and width of the vertical-slits. Based on the results, the appropriate ranges for the geometric parameters of VS-RWS have been recommended. In order to obtain the story drift of the frame caused by the VS-RWS beam flexural deformation using the conjugate beam method, the original VS-RWS was replaced with an equivalent constant-cut reduced beam section (CC-RBS). At last, a step-by-step design procedure for VS-RWS connections was provided according to AISC-358.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran

    Hamidreza Nazaralizadeh & Parham Memarzadeh

  2. Centre for Infrastructure Engineering, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia

    Hamid Ronagh

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

    Farhad Behnamfar

Authors
  1. Hamidreza Nazaralizadeh
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  2. Hamid Ronagh
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  3. Parham Memarzadeh
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  4. Farhad Behnamfar
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Correspondence to Parham Memarzadeh.

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Nazaralizadeh, H., Ronagh, H., Memarzadeh, P. et al. A practical design approach to bolted end-plate vertical-slits RWS connection. Bull Earthquake Eng 20, 547–586 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-021-01238-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-021-01238-2

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