The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Steel beam-column joints in seismic moment resisting frames

Tsai, Keh-Chyuan; Popov, Egor P.

UCB/EERC-88/19, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1988-11, 438 pages (515/T738/1988)

This combined experimental and analytical research program focuses primarily on the behavior of beam-column joints. The experimental investigation focused mainly on conventional moment connections with bolted web and welded flange details. The effects of various connection details and welding procedures on the performance of 19 full-scale beam-column assemblies were studied. An analytical investigation was conducted on steel moment resisting frames designed to allow active yielding of panel zone joints. The frames were designed according to a recently developed seismic building code. The numerical procedure and nonlinear elements used in solving the nonlinear dynamic system are studied, and a special panel zone joint element is implemented into the ANSR-1 computer program to account for the inelastic shear deformation of panel zone joints. Several steel frame designs for a six-story and a 20-story office building are analyzed using various ground acceleration records. From these analyses, the maximum beam inelastic rotation and the dissipated energy demands at critical joints of the frame are compared with the maximum experimentally obtained capacity. The effects of various panel zone designs on the static and dynamic behavior of the frame are studied in detail. For moment resisting frames under static lateral forces, a method incorporating actual panel zone flexibilities into the computation of elastic story drifts is developed.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-88-19.pdf (39 MB)