Effect of seismic loading on steel moment resisting frames

In recent history, the use of Steel Moment Resisting Frames (SMRF) in many structural steel buildings has become popular among many engineers and designers. The use of these moment resisting frames allows for more open spaces between floors and columns than in buildings that use the more traditional braced frame construction. One of the critical aspects of the moment resisting frames is the connections between the beams and the columns. The Northridge earthquake near Los Angeles California in 1994 showed that the existing designs for SMRF connections were inadequate and unstable. As a result, new connection designs were needed for SMRF construction. This thesis will first discuss the causes for the failures of the SMRF connections that were discovered after the Northridge earthquake. Next, new performance and testing requirements for new connection designs will be examined. Lastly, one possible solution, the SidePlate connection system, will be analyzed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Li, Alex C. (Alex Chung-Hsing), 1974-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jerome Connor.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50061

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/50061