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Structural Engineering and Mechanics
  Volume 93, Number 2, January25 2025 , pages 95-113
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/sem.2025.93.2.095
 


Seismic analysis of eight-bolt unstiffened end plate moment connections
Shahriar Quayyum, Machel L. Morrison, Tasnim Hassan and Timothy R. Kohany

 
Abstract
    The eight-bolt stiffened extended end plate moment (8ES) connection is preapproved for use in intermediate and special moment frames according to ANSI/AISC 358. Simulated seismic testing indicates that 8ES connections generally perform well, exhibiting ductile failure modes. Despite this, many studies have found that the beam flange near the stiffener toe is prone to fracture due to the high stress concentration in that area. Recently, a solution to this problem was proposed - an unstiffened eight-bolt extended end plate connection. This removes the stiffener and arranges bolts in an octagonal pattern to eliminate stress concentration and ensure equal force distribution. When using the proposed unstiffened connection with deep wide flange beams (e.g., W-sections of 900 mm nominal depth), detailed finite element analyses performed in this study showed that high strain demands at the beam flange to end plate CJP welds can develop despite improvements. Hence, two additional seismic performance enhancing techniques are analytically evaluated for unreinforced eight-bolt extended end plate connections. The first technique uses heat treatment of specified beam flange regions and reinforcing specified beam web regions. The heat treatment relocates the plastic hinge and thereby lower flange weld strain demands, whereas web reinforcement delays the onset and slows the rate of connection strength degradation. The second technique uses a heavy extended shear tab to relocate the plastic hinge away from flange weld and slightly delays the onset of strength degradation. Systematic analysis results are developed and presented to demonstrate the enhanced seismic performance of the modified EEP connections and to plan future experimentations and design development.
 
Key Words
    extended end plate connection; extended end plate stiffener; extended shear tab; heat-treated beam section; octagonal bolt arrangement; seismic performance enhancement; web reinforcement
 
Address
Shahriar Quayyum: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Manhattan University, Riverdale, NY 10471, USA
Machel L. Morrison: Department of Structural Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Tasnim Hassan: Department of Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Timothy R. Kohany: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Manhattan University, Riverdale, NY 10471, USA
 

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