Mohsen Bambaeechee - Assistant Professor, Quchan University of Advanced Technology, Quchan, Iran

The analysis and design of steel frames are usually carried out considering the rigid or pinned connections. Although, using the behavior of beam-to-column connections as two idealized models is simple in the design and analysis, but do not show the actual behavior of the structure. This paper deals with the effects of semi-rigid connection in elastic and inelastic analysis of steel frameworks. Accordingly, a finite element program is developed in FORTRAN language for the numerical analysis. This program takes into account semi-rigid connections in terms of end-fixity factor and inelastic analysis is performed by using of the plastic hinge approach. Based on the numerical examples, the influences of the semi-rigid connections on elastic and inelastic are investigated. Results show that changing the connection rigidities makes appreciable variations in the distribution of the internal loads and the nodal displacements. Also, the sequence formation of the plastic hinges in frames, and their failure points depend on the connection flexibility and the corresponding moment-rotation curve.

Steel frame, Semi-rigid connection, Nonlinear analysis, Elastic analysis, Inelastic analysis