Moment-rotation-temperature model of semi-rigid cruciform flush endplate connection in fire

Abstract

This paper aims to develop a model for predicting the moment-rotation-temperature (M-R-T) relationship of semi-rigid cruciform flush endplate (CFEP) connections in fire. For this purpose, a nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis was conducted to simulate the CFEP connections in the fire using ABAQUS. The FE model was verified with the experimental results conducted by others. Based on the validated FE model, a parametric study was carried out by considering effect of several parameters, such as the number of bolt rows, column section, beam section, distance of bolt rows, gauge distance, endplate thickness, bolt diameter, yield and ultimate stress of column, yield and ultimate stress of beam, yield and ultimate stress of endplate, yield and ultimate stress of bolt, and moment ratio. Accordingly, the results of the parametric study were used to establish the M-R-T model of CFEP connections at both ambient and elevated temperature. The performance of the M-R-T model was compared with the test results in the literature. The comparative study showed that the proposed model can accurately capture the M-R-T relationship of CFEP connections in fire.