The effect of geometrical parameters of connection on connection behavior and stress distribution

Abstract EN

In this paper the effect of connection geometric parameters on moment and stress distribution is reported.

A comprehensive parametric analysis of steel beam-to-column connection using T-Stiffener is conducted to determine the connection behavior and stress distributions.

A general-purpose finite element software, ANSYS is used to model the connection plate components with shell elements type 43.

Whereas welds are modeled with linkage elements to reflect weld stiffness.

The finite element mesh configurations are selected on the basis of h-refinement procedure.

Geometric and material nonlinearities are incorporated in the analysis by adopting the modified Newton-Raphson technique and nonlinear stress-strain curve respectively.

It is found that parameters describing the thickness of T-Stiffener web and flange plates and the ratio of beam flange width to T-Stiffener flange width have a significant effect on the connection behavior and stress distribution.

Unlike conventional design assumptions, the applied moment is found to be almost equally distributed among the T-stiffener web and flange plates.

Stress analysis shows that the moment capacity of a connection designed by the conventional method is limited to 43 % of the beam allowable moment.