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Seismic Forces

Though the recent version of the code, IS 800:2007, contains provisions


for design and detailing for seismic loads, it does not suggest the type of
connections which are suitable for high or intermediate seismic zones.
Connections play an important role in seismic resistance. The Northridge
earthquake in California during January 1994 and the Kobe earthquake Dr. N. Subramanian, Consulting
in Japan during 1995 have shown that even well designed connections Engineer, Gaithersburg, USA
are susceptible to severe damages. After an extensive testing initiated by
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, USA, the AISC has suggested
a few pre-qualified moment connections to be used in high or intermediate
seismic zones. A brief description of these connections is provided for the
benefit of designers.

Introduction which are suitable for high or have been tested and found to be
intermediate seismic zones. satisfactory (FEMA 355D, 2000),
According to the recent Indian
Comparison of the damages in Gross et al, 1999). These
standard code on earthquake
recent earthquakes in Haiti and connections may be adopted in
resistant design of structures, more
Chile has shown that strict India also for better performance in
than 60-65% of the area of our
adherence to codal provisions and strong or intermediate earthquakes.
country falls under seismic zone III
quality constructions could prevent
or above. This underlines the
excessive damages to constructions Damages to Beam-
importance of seismic detailing. In
and human loss. The Northridge
any structure, the joints assume
earthquake in California during
column Connections
more importance and have to be
detailed carefully so that they are
January 1994 and the Kobe During Eathquakes
earthquake in Japan during 1995 Subsequent to the Northridge and
able to withstand the inelastic joint
have shown that even well designed Kobe earthquakes, it was
rotations (in the order of 0.04
connections are susceptible to determined that some damage to
radians) and drift that may result
severe damages. Based on the moment – resisting frames
during an earthquake. The detailing
research that followed these occurred at the beam-column
of reinforced concrete structures
earthquakes, The American Institute connections. These connections
have been covered adequately in
of Steel Construction (AISC) has experienced rotation levels well
the Indian codes. However, until
stipulated that connections in below the plastic moment capacity
recently such detailing of joints in
special moment frames (SMF) or of framing members. Failures
steel structures was not covered in
Intermediate moment frames (IMF) included non-ductile fractures of
the Indian code on steel structures.
should be qualified for use by bottom beam flange-to-column
Though the recent version of the
testing. However, as testing of flange complete-joint-penetration
code, IS 800:2007, contains
connections is time-consuming and (CJP) groove welds, which
provisions for design and detailing
expensive, it has also specified a propagated into the adjacent column
for seismic loads, it does not
few pre-qualified connections, which flange and web and into the beam
suggest the type of connections

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Seismic Forces

bottom flange. This failure was standard from time to time, as and portions of the beam flanges are
accompanied in some instances by when additional research results are removed in a pre-determined
secondary cracking of the beam available. The draft AISC 358-2010 fashion, adjacent to the beam-
web shear plate and failure of the contains a number of pre-qualified column connection, as shown in
beam top flange weld. The factors connections and are discussed Fig.1. In such a connection, yielding
that contributed to the damage briefly here. and plastic hinges are forced to
include the following (FEMA, 2000): form away from the connection at
♦ Stress concentration at the Pre-qualified Moment the reduced section of the beam.
bottom flange weld, due to the The effect of dogbone is similar
notch effect produced by backing
Connections to that of cover plate connections.
AISC 358-2010 gives the following
strips left in place, With cover plates the connection is
pre-qualified connections:
♦ Poor welding practices, including made stronger than the beam by
1. Reduced–Beam section
the use of weld metal of low strengthening the connection. In the
connection
toughness dogbone, the connection is
2. Bolted un-stiffened and Stiffened
♦ uncontrolled deposition rates effectively made stronger than the
Extended End-Plate Moment
♦ The use of larger members than beam by weakening the beam.
Connections
those previously tested or the use While producing the same effect of
3. Bolted Flange Plate (BFP)
of higher strength girders, cover plates, the dogbone
moment connection
♦ Less system redundancy and connection can be constructed with
4. Welded Un-reinforced Flange-
higher strain demands on relatively simpler details, resulting
Welded Web Moment Connection
connections, in a more reliable and economic
(WUF-W)
♦ Lack of control of basic material solution. Moreover, the strong-
5. Kaiser Bolded Bracket (KBB)
properties (large variation of column and weak-beam design can
Moment connection
member strength from the easily be achieved. The earliest
A brief discussion about these
prescribed values) application of dogbone connection
joints is given below. More details
♦ Inadequate quality control during was made in 1969 (Iwankiw and
about them and their methods of
construction, and Carter, 1996, Engelhardt et al,
design may be found from AISC
♦ The tri-axial restraint existing at 1998).
358-2010.
the center of beam flanges and However, the reduction in flange
at the beam-column interface, Reduced–Beam Section area may reduce the stiffness of
which inhibits yielding. beam flange and may increase the
In an attempt to ensure Connection susceptibility of lateral torsional
satisfactory seismic performance, In reduced beam section (RBS) buckling in the reduced section.
stringent specifications were moment connection (also known as
imposed on fully restrained moment the ‘dog bone’ connection), some
connections. Subsequent to the
earthquake, a multi-billion dollar
research was conducted for over
10 years, to understand the
behaviour of such beam-to-column
connections. This research resulted
in the development of current
design provisions for moment
resistant frames, prescribed in AISC
341-05 (Seismic provisions for
structural steel buildings, American
Institute of Steel Construction). In
addition, AISC has developed
another American National
Standards Institute approved
standard, AISC 358-05, which
presents materials, design,
detailing, fabrication, and inspection
requirements for a series of pre-
qualified moment connections. Figure 1: Reduced beam section (RBS) moment connection (a) connection,
(b) details of reduced beam flange (Ref.4,5)
AISC updates and reissues this

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Seismic Forces

connected to column flange by


using complete joint penetration
(CJP) groove welds and beam
flanges are connected to the plates
by using high strength friction grip
bolts. The web of the beam is
connected to the column flange
using a bolted single-plate shear
connection, with bolts in short-
slotted holes. In this connection,
yielding and plastic hinge formation
are designed to occur in the beam
near the end of the flange plates.
The design procedure for this type
Figure 2: Bolted un-stiffened extended end-plate (BUEEP) and bolted stiffened of connection is more complex than
extended end-plate (BSEEP) moment connections (Ref.4,5)
other pre-qualified connections.
Hence additional lateral bracings equations to check the various limit Welded Un-reinforced
may be provided in these locations. states of this type of connection
Note that various shaped flanges such as flexural yielding of the Flange-Welded Web
such as straight cut, taper cut, arc beam section or end plate, yielding
cut, and drilled flanges have been of column panel zone, shear or
Moment Connection
tested and the arc cut was found to tension failure of the end-plate (WUF-W)
provide favorable results. bolts, and failure of the various Unlike other pre-qualified
welded joints. These provisions are connections, in the welded un-
Bolted Un-stiffened and intended to ensure inelastic reinforced flange-welded web (WUF-
Stiffened Extended End- deformation of the connection by W) moment connection, the plastic
Plate Moment beam yielding. hinge location is not moved away
from the column face. Rather, the
Connections Bolted Flange Plate (BFP) design and detailing features are
Bolted end plate connections are Moment Connection intended to allow it to achieve
made by welding the beam section These connections consist of plates Special Moment Frame (SMF)
to an end plate which is in-turn welded to column flanges and performance without fracture. In this
bolted to the column flange. Three bolted to beam flanges as shown connection the beam flanges are
types of these connections are pre- in Fig.3. Identical top and bottom welded directly to the column flange
qualified by AISC 358. It gives plates are used. Flange plates are using CJP groove welds. The beam
web is bolted to a single-plate
shear connection for erection. This
plate is used as a backing bar for
welding the beam web directly to
column flange using CJP groove
weld, which extends to the full depth
of the web (that is, from weld
access hole to weld access hole).
A fillet weld is also used to connect
the shear plate to the beam web,
as shown in Fig.4. A special
seismic weld access hole and
detailing, as shown in Fig. 4(b), are
specified for the WUF-W moment
connection, to reduce stress-
concentration in the region around
the access hole,

Figure 3: Bolted flange plate (BFP) moment connection (Ref.4,5)

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Seismic Forces

strength and ductility. The bracket


is shop welded to the beam and
field bolted to the column. The
brackets used in Wasatch property
Management Corporate
Headquarters building in Utah, USA
are shown in Fig. 6. The use of
these cast steel brackets resulted
in a saving of $3,000 per joint, due
to the avoidance of complete
penetration field welding, doubler
plates, continuity plates and ultra-
sonic testing and also from the
reduced beam tonnage (Cartwright,
2006).
The design procedure and
detailing requirements for these

Figure 4: Welded un-reinforced Flange – welded Web (WUF-W) moment connection


(a) connection, (b) Detailing of connection (Ref.4,5)

Figure 5: Kaiser bolted bracket (KBB) moment connections (a) Beam welded to
bracket, (b) beam bolted to bracket (Ref.4,5)

Kaiser Bolted bracket away from the column


flange. This connection is designed
Bracket (KBB) to eliminate field welding and
facilitate erection.
Moment Connection Several tests on this type bolted
In Kaiser bolted bracket (KBB) bracket connection were conducted
moment connection, a cast steel at Lehigh University (Adan and Gibb,
(high-strength) bracket is fastened 2009).Then it was patented with the
to each beam flange and bolted to United States Patent and Trademark
the column flange as shown in Fig Office by of Steel Cast Connection
5. The bracket can be either bolted LLC. The advantage of using
or welded to the beam. The bracket casting is that it will not have HAZ
is proportioned to develop the issues or residual stresses that
probable maximum moment would be found in welds. Figure 6: Use of Kaiser bolted brackets
strength of the beam, such that in Wasatch property Management
This bracket is available in USA,
yielding and plastic hinge formation Corporate Headquarters building in
in various sizes and bolt patterns Utah, USA (Cartwright,2006)
occurs in the beam at the end of to match the demand required for

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Seismic Forces

♦ Iwankiw, N.R., and Carter, C.J.,


The Dogbone: A new idea to
Chew on, Modern Steel
Construction, AISC, Vol. 36, No.4,
April 1996
♦ Engelhardt, M.D., Winneberger,
Zekany, A.J., and Potyraj, T.J.,
Experimental Investigation of
Dogbone Moment connections,
Engineering Journal, AISC, vol. 35,
No. 4, Fourth Quarter, 1998, pp.
128-139
Figure 7: Typical configuration of cast modular connector (Sumer, et al 2007) ♦ Hamburger, R.O., Krawinkler, H.,
Malley, J.O., and Adan, S.M.,
connections are given in AISC 358- References: Seismic design of steel special
2010. ♦ FEMA 355D, State of the Art moment frames: A guide for
A similar, but a bit complicated, Report on Connection practicing Engineers, NEHRP
field bolted cast modular connector Performance, prepared by the SAC Seismic design technical brief
is under development and is shown Joint Venture for Federal no.2, National Institute of
in Fig. 7 (Sumer et al, 2007). Emergency Management Agency, Standards and Technology,
Washington, D.C., 2000. Gaithersburg, USA, June
Conclusion ♦ http://www.sacsteel.org/ 2009,33pp. (http://www.nehrp.gov/
There seams to be an increasing ♦ Gross, J.L., Engelhardt, m.D., pdf/nistgcr9-917-3.pdf)
earthquake activity throughout the Uang, C.-M., Kasai, K., and ♦ www.steelcastconnections.com
world. The recent earthquakes have Iwankiw, N.R., Modification of ♦ Adan, S.M., and Gibb, W.,
demonstrated that the damages Existing Welded Steel Moment Experimental Evaluation of Kaiser
and loss of lives will be extensive if frame Connections for Seismic bolted Bracket Steel Moment-
the buildings are not designed and Resistance, STEEL Design Guide Resisting Connections,
detailed properly. Though the recent series 12, American Institute of Engineering Journal, AISC, Vol. 46,
version of steel code contained Steel Construction, Inc., Chicago, No.3, Third Quarter 2009, pp. 181-
provisions for seismic design and IL, 1999. 196
detailing, designers are not given ♦ ANSI/AISC 358-05, Pre-qualified ♦ Cartwright,C., Wasatch Property
guidance to choose proper beam- connections for special and Management Corporate
to-column connections, in SMF and intermediate steel moment Headquarters, The Newsletter of
IMFs. After 10 years of extensive frames for seismic applications the Structural Engineers
research, initiated by Federal including Supplement No.1, Association of Utah, Vol. XI, No.1,
Emergency Management Agency, American Institute of Steel Sept 2006, pp.2-3
USA, the AISC has developed a few Construction, Inc., 2005. and Draft ♦ Sumer, A., Fleischman, R.B., and
pre-qualified connections, which AISC 358-2010. Hoskisson, B.E., Development of
have shown to provide the required ♦ Carter, C.J. and Grubb, K.A., a cast Modular Connector for
amount of ductility. A brief Prequalified moment connections Seismic-Resistant Steel Moment
description of such connections is (revisited), Modern Steel Frames, Part 1:Prototype
given to aid the designers. The Construction, Vol.50, No.1, Jan development, Part 2: Experimental
design methods are discussed in 2010, pp. 54-57 Verification, Engineering Journal,
AISC 385-05. AISC, Vol. 44, No.3, Third Quarter,
2007, pp. 195-231

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