Design Approach of Stiffeners and Model of the Initial Stiffness in Extended End-Plate Connection

Abstract

End plate stiffener failures occure in a number of tests in recent years. And no relevant rules are given in design codes for steel structures. A design method for angles and thickness of stiffeners in extended end plate connecionts is derived by requiring the eqaul distribution of tensile force among bolts inside and outside of beam flange. And a balance between the force transmitted by the stiffener and by the beam flange is considered too. Comparisons with results of ANSYS show that the stiffeners designed by the proposed method in this paper are able to change the extended portion of endplates from one side clamped to 2 panels fixed on two adjacent sides. Simple formulas for calculating rotational rigidities of the connections with and/or without stiffeners were also proposed with component method, in which the end-plate stiffness, column flange stiffness and bolt stiffness are inclueded. Comparisons with results of ANSYS show that the proposed equations have good precision and can be applied to pratical engineering.