Practical Advanced Analysis for Semi-rigid Frame Design

This paper presents three practical advanced analysis procedures for a two-dimensional semi-rigid steel frame design. Herein, the nonlinear behavior of beam-to-column connections is discussed, and practical modeling of these connections is introduced. The proposed methods can predict accurately the combined nonlinear effects of connection, geometry, and material on the behavior and strength of semi-rigid frames. The strengths predicted by these methods are compared well with those available experiments. Analysis and design procedures using the proposed methods are described in detail, and a case study is also given. The proposed procedures can be used for the LRFD design without tedious separate member capacity checks, including the calculations of K-factor. The procedures are suitable for adoption in practice.