Effect of biaxial bending moment on the behavior of steel extended end-plate connection

摘要

The majority of design codes provide design concepts for stronger axis moment of column-beam connections. In some cases, weak axis moment cannot be avoided. Such cases exist extensively in the oil and gas industry due to the horizontal forces from friction forces and anchor forces at the pipe supports. There is a gap in knowledge in designing these connections. This paper is an introduction for a better understanding of the behavior of the connections subject to the weak axis moment beside the strong axis moment. An experimental program contains six extended end-plate steel beam to column connections subjected to uniaxial and biaxial bending moment (UBM and BBM) were carried out. Also, a finite element model (FEM) that included Material, contact, and geometric nonlinearities, was developed to simulate these connections. The results of the FEM and the test were compared besides, the characteristics of the connections subjected to UBM were determined and compared with the Eurocode 3 prediction, and a good agreement between them was found. The effect of BBM on the deformed shape, the characteristics, and the ductility of the connection are presented and discussed. The study extended to the implementation of an extensive parametric study that ended with proposing equations to obtain the characteristics of the connection under BBM. The results of this study indicate that the weak axis moment beside the strong axis moment leads to a significant effect on the resistance moment and rotational capacity with a slight effect on the initial stiffness. Also, it is found that the proposal equations give a satisfactory prediction for the characteristics of the studied connections.