Beam Web-Side-Plate Connection Axial Performance

Abstract

A number of beam web side plate connection configurations are analyzed under monotonic axial force. Parameters investigated include (i) gravity loads causing a beam shear up to 60% of the capacity, (ii) column lateral drift, (iii) beam lateral restraint along the length, (iv) packing effect represent the practice when plates do not align perfectly, and (v) cope length. For the analyses conducted, gravity shear forces up to 0.6 times of the cleat plate gross shear capacity, reduced the connection compressive axial strength by up to 15% compared to connections without gravity loads. The connection axial strength varied by 10% with lateral drifts of up to 2% and the increase or decrease depended on the relative directions of drift and axial force. Also, axial strength of double-coped WSP connection decreased linearly with increasing the cope length. Other parameters were found to have less than 2% effect on the web side plate axial strength. A general simple design method to assess axial strength of these connections is proposed.