Collapse resistance of unreinforced steel moment connections

Experimental and analytical studies of steel moment connections in gravity load resisting systems were conducted to understand the connection behaviour under progressive collapse. An exterior beam–column assemblage was selected from the gravity load resisting system in a steel building. Two identical, full‐scale, unreinforced welded steel beam‐to‐column moment connection specimens were tested under monotonic and cyclic loading to investigate the effects of applied loading conditions on the connection rotation capacity. The beam web was connected to the column flange by bolting and the beam flanges were complete joint penetration welded to the column flange. The specimens failed by fracture in the beam flange CJP weld at story drifts of 9.2 % (specimen SP1 under monotonic loading) and 3.4% (specimen SP2 under cyclic loading). The maximum drift angle achieved in the monotonic test exceeded the General Service Administration criterion for welded unreinforced flange connections, and the amount of dissipated energy of SP1 turned out to be smaller than that of SP2. The finite element analysis of the test specimen was also conducted to validate the test results, and the analysis results matched well with those obtained from experiments. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.