Economy studies of steel building frames with semi-rigid joints

The traditional design of steel structures assumes for global frame analysis either rigid or pinned joints. Consequently the design of the joints must satisfy these initial assumptions in terms of joint behaviour. This may lead to uneconomical solutions for the joint detailing or for the choice of member sections. Modern standards for steel design like Eurocode 3 allow to take into account the actual joint behaviour, i.e. semi-rigid and/or partial-strength. Because of this they enable new concepts and strategies for economical design of steel structures. This paper discusses opportunities for optimum solutions as well as the impact of the joint classification on economy. It presents existing and new comparative studies on the economy of steel building frames which are designed according to the traditional and the new concept respectively.