Initial stiffness and moment resistance of reinforced joint with end-plate connection

Abstract

In beam-to-column joint with bolted end-plate connection, the structural details of column flange reinforced by backing plate and column web panel reinforced by supplementary plate are analyzed. The joint is divided into some basic components, and the initial stiffness of each component is obtained. Especially, the initial stiffness of reinforced components is drawn by theoretical model and finite element analysis. The initial stiffness of reinforced joint can be obtained by assembling the initial stiffness of each component. The design moment resistance of column flange reinforced by backing plate is deduced based on yield line method, and the design moment resistances of other components are deduced based on present codes. The design moment resistance of the reinforced joint is then determined by the minimum of the design moment resistances of all components. By comparison with the results of finite element calculation, it is verified that the method to calculate the initial stiffness of reinforced joint is accurate enough to be used to estimate the rigid behavior of the joint and to make parametric study.

Keywords

steel structure / end-plate connection / backing plate / supplementary web plate / initial stiffness / moment resistance