This is a two-year collaborative project between Wai-Fah Chen of Purdue University and H.B. Wu and S.P. Zhou of the Chongqing Institute of Architecture and Engineering of China (CIAEC). It is supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Science Foundation of China. Stability analysis and design of steel structures is one of the most important structural engineering problems today. Several important structural stability problems of similar type exist in the United States and China, despite their differences in scale. In this project, the principal inves- tigators will undertake full-scale experimental tests and analytical modeling to attempt to solve stability problems in steel framed structures. The Purdue team will work principally on the expanded data bank for semi-rigid connections and on the basic mathematical formulation and computer-based model development. The CIAEC team will work principally on the full-scale tests. Each team will spend time in the other's facility. It is expected that major findings resulting from the cooperative research will provide the necessary basis for possible next revision of current Specifications for Design, Fabrication and Erection of Structural Steel for Buildings, which are used in the United States and China.
