Experimental Analysis of Steel Beams with Semi-Rigid Joints

Publisher Summary The incorporation of actual joint behavior in design analysis was prevented by the associated increase of calculation complexity and by the lack of a sufficient and reliable set of data. The most recent European and American Codes allow the actual response of joints to be incorporated in frame design. A number of studies of both connection and frame performance build up a sufficient body of knowledge and points out the possible benefits of such a design approach. The great majority of experimental investigations of joint response were considering the joint in isolation. Joint tests are low cost and efficient tests. However, they cannot fully duplicate the actual conditions of a joint as a part of a system. The shear/moment ratio is constant in a joint test, whereas it varies in an actual frame because of the spread of inelastic deformations. To investigate the possible influence of the shear/moment ratio on the joint response, a limited series of tests was carried out up to collapse on beams with semirigid joints and subject to different loading conditions. This chapter reports on the tests and presents the outcomes of a first evaluation of the experimental results.