Behaviour of high strength steel moment joints
A.M. Girão Coelho1,2, F.S.K. Bijlaard1
1 Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
2 Institute of Computers and Systems Engineering of Coimbra, Portugal
The design of joints to European standard EN 1993 within the semi-continuous/partially restrained philosophy is restricted to steel grades up to S460. With the recent development of high performance steels, the need for these restrictions should be revisited. The semicontinuous joint modelling can be adopted as long as the joint develops rotation capacity and behaves ductile. The research summarized in this paper focuses on moment joints with components made from high strength steel S460, S690 and S960 (yield stress of 460 N/mm², 690 N/mm² and 960 N/mm², respectively) to provide insight into the nonlinear behaviour of this joint type. Findings from a comprehensive research programme carried out in the Delft University of Technology are collected. The major contributions of this study are (i) the characterization of the rotational response in the framework of the component method, (ii) the validation of current EN 1993 specifications for joints and (iii) the ductility analysis of high strength steel moment joints. Test results show that the tested joints and components satisfy the current design provisions for stiffness and resistance and satisfy reasonable deformation demands.
Key words: Ductility, end plate connections, experimental testing, high strength steel, resistance, rotation capacity, stiffness, T-stub, web shear panel