9416287 Engelhardt The January 1994 Northridge Earthquake caused unprecedented damage at beam-to-column connections in steel moment resisting frames. The failures occurred largely at the standard welded flange - bolted web type of steel moment connection. These failures reflected nonductile behavior, and has raised serious questions on current methods and standards of design. The research undertaken in this project will experimentally evaluate the performance of reinforced moment connections. Two reinforcing schemes will be investigated. Both involve the addition of reinforcing plates at the connection. The reinforcing plates substantially increase the flexural capacity of the connection, and at the same time, reduce stress levels on the beam flange welds. The lower weld stresses will significantly reduce the sensitivity of the connection to welding quality. Such reinforced connection details have shown promising performance in limited past tests. However additional large scale verification of these details is needed, and will be provided by this research project. Most tests will be conducted using beam steels with high yield strength and high yield to tensile strength ratio, in order to provide a severe test of the reinforced connections. However, some tests will also be conducted using beam steels with a controlled low value of yield and yield to tensile strengths. These tests will demonstrate the role of steel strength characteristics in the observed connection failures, and investigate the possibility of improved connection performance through control of steel material properties. The results of this testing program will provide urgently needed data for structural engineers and building code officials involved with design of new steel moment frames, as well as the repair or retrofit of existing steel moment frames. This is a Northridge Earthquake project. ***

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
1994-09-01
Budget End
1996-08-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
1994
Total Cost
$70,000
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas Austin
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Austin
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
78712