Conceptual design of joints in braced steel frames
conference paper
To help practitioners to find the most economical design of braced frames, this paper proposes a classification of joints in `simple' (e.g. web cleated connections), 'moderate' (e.g. flush end plated connections) and 'complex' (e.g. stiffened extended end plate connections) with respect to the fabricational complexity (low, medium and high costs). Different types of joints are classified into the three aforementioned classes in a table format. This enables a practitioner to simply read the class of a given joint from the table, without calculation. For each class, recommendations are given what strength and what stiffness should be used during the conceptual design stage of the frame. Furthermore, the paper shows that, during the final design of the braced frame, the recommended stiffness values can be used safely without further checks. In other words, there is no need to determine the 'actual' stiffness of the joint during final design, which lightens the design task dramatically. What remains is a check of the strength and, in case of plastic frame analysis, the rotation capacity.
A comparison of frame alternatives is included, which demonstrates that application of moderate joints compared to simple joints may be economical due to savings in beam costs
A comparison of frame alternatives is included, which demonstrates that application of moderate joints compared to simple joints may be economical due to savings in beam costs
TNO Identifier
329482
Source title
IABSE Semi-Rigid Structural Connections Colloquium , Istanbul, Turkey
Pages
327-336
Files
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