DUCTILITY OF ORTHOTROPIC PLATED STEEL STRUCTURES

The design practice of structural engineering is currently undergoing a considerable amount of fundamental change. For example, in recent years, limit state design has been introduced in Europe for the design of steel structures, and load and resistance factor design has become mandatory in the United States. However, other more dramatic changes in the practice of structural steel design attributable to a shift in the design philosophy as evidenced by the introduction of numerous new codes and standards that now require design for stability and ductility response. This paper discusses the yield mechanism forms of different solutions of the connections of trapezoidal stiffeners and cross beams for orthotropic steel plates.