1Built Environment Research Laboratory, Faculty of Civil Engineering, U.S.T.H.B., Algiers, Algeria.
2Faculty of Engineering and Computing, Department of Built Environment, Coventry University, Coventry, England, UK.
Notationsk1, k2
Elastic constants of the springs in rotation at nodes “i” and “j”, respectively
C1v, C2vElastic constants of vertical springs at nodes “i” and “j”, respectively.
Cu1, Cu2Elastic constants of axial springs at nodes “i”and “j”, respectively.
ΨArea of bending moment diagram for a simply supported beam.
nl, mlDistance to left support and right support respectively, from gravity centre Ψ
ωFlexural rigidity per unit length,
ΔiRelative vertical displacement between nodes “i” and “j”
Vi, Mi, Vj, MjReactions at nodes “i” and “j”, in local reference.
Vector force in local reference.
Beam to column connections are usually considered either as perfectly rigid or as nominally pinned. However, as is now well established, this does not represent the actual behaviour of the connection, and hence the impact it has on the behaviour of the structure itself, as connections are often semi-rigid. The present paper presents a mechanical model of the connections, where the rigidity of the joint is represented by means of rotational and translational springs introducing the concept of non deformable element of nodes, describing relative displacements and rotations between the nodes and the elements of the structure. Examples are provided to illustrate the simplicity and efficiency of the method and comparisons to recently published results have proved the generalization, the simplicity and the efficiency of the proposed model.
Rigid, Semi-rigid, Connection, Mechanical model, Frames, Buckling
