A Study of the Influence of the Rigidity of Joints on the Dynamic Response of Steel Structures

Abstract eng:
The objective of this paper is to study the influence of the rigidity of joints on the nonlinear dynamic response of steel structures under seismic excitation. We consider bolted beam-to-column joints with extended end-plates. A detailed finite element simulation of the joints is performed using structural (beam and shell) and three-dimensional continuum (eight-node hexahedral solid) elements. Material as well as geometric nonlinearities with contact between the appropriate components of the connections are taken into account. The moment-rotation (Μ-φ) response of characteristic joints, subjected to static loads, is calculated and compared with experimental results and EC3 predictions for the validation of the corresponding numerical models. The dynamic response of steel frames is examined, with detailed modeling of their joints via structural elements according to the above study, capturing all types of nonlinearities. Frame members are modeled either with shell (full simulation) or with beam elements combined with proper compatibility constraints at the interfaces with the joints (hybrid simulation) accounting for the excessive computational effort required to perform nonlinear dynamic analyses with detailed finite element models. Implicit directintegration is implemented in order to study the nonlinear seismic response of the above frame models, while El Centro earthquake horizontal accelerogram is considered for the seismic excitation. In order to study the influence of the joints end-plate and bolts, parametric analyses are performed demonstrating the effect of each component on the overall dynamic behavior of steel structures. Time history curves of nodal displacements are displayed for the appropriate comparisons. The detailed finite element discretization of the joint and frame models is produced automatically from the corresponding geometric models.

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