Full‐Scale Steel Moment‐Resisting Frame with Dissipative Bolted Connections under Monotonic Loads: Experimental versus Numerical Results

In the light of the new National Annex in Germany (DIN‐EN‐1998‐1/NA), in which extended seismic areas and higher spectral accelerations are specified, dissipative design of steel structures gains significance for moderate seismic regions as well. The use of the inherent ductility of steel can lead to an effective and safe design. Thus, a series of beam‐to‐column joints with dissipative bolted connections for Moment‐Resisting Frames were developed within an ongoing German‐funded project. The aim is to develop joint typologies, which can dissipate energy through a ductile response of the connection. Joints from the German catalogue of typical connections were used as a starting point. They were investigated and improved using FE numerical simulations to exclude brittle failure and provide dissipative, semi‐rigid and partial‐strength beam‐to‐column joints, which could allow for the use of behaviour factors in the range 1.5÷3. The optimized joints were used within full‐scale frame specimens (10.0 m length, 3.0 m height) and tested under monotonic and cyclic loads. The paper provides an overview of the: ▪ experimental program; ▪ monotonic test results; ▪ numerical results of the calibrated numerical model, as well as the response of the beam‐to‐column joints; ▪ main conclusions.