Non-dissipative joints in seismic resistant building frames - Bolted beam-to-column joints

According to Eurocode 8, earthquake resistant steel building frames shall be designed following either the “low dissipative structural behaviour concept” or the “dissipative structural behaviour concept”. In the second concept, the capability of parts of the structure to resist earthquake actions through inelastic behaviour is taken into account: energy is dissipated in plastic mechanisms. In such a design, it has to be ensured that the dissipative zones form where they are intended to and that they yield before other zones leave the elastic range. In particular, moment resisting frames are designed in such a way that plastic hinges develop at the extremities of the beams. These dissipative zones can be located either in the beams or in the beam-to-column joints. In this paper, non-dissipative bolted beam-to-column connections are considered. They must be sufficiently resistant to remain in elastic range while cyclic yielding develops in the dissipative zones located in the beams. Besides, the possibility that the actual yield strength of the beam is higher than the nominal value has to be taken into account by a material overstrength factor. Such an approach generally leads to very strong and thus expensive joints.
In the present paper, a design strategy leading to more economical solutions for full-strength beam-to-column joints is detailed. This study was conducted within the framework of an RFCS project called HSS-SERF (High Strength Steel in Seismic Resistant Building Frames). The considered moment-resisting joints are part of seismic resistant building frames made of high strength steel composite columns and mild carbon steel beams. The columns are either partially-encased wide-flange columns (H columns) or concrete-filled rectangular hollow-section columns (RHS columns).
The proposed joint configuration uses hammer-heads extracted from the beam profile. To fulfil the resistance requirement taking account of the possible overstrength of the beam, the resistant moment of the joint is decomposed in the contributions of the different components involved. Then, no overstrength factor needs to be considered for the components related to the beam itself and to the hammer-heads. This approach is in full accordance with the basic principles of Eurocode 8 and can decrease much the required resistance of the joints provided some conditions are fulfilled, meaning lower costs.