Beams, columns and beam-to-column connections are considered to be the basic structural elements in moment-resisting steel frames. These elements are expected to undergo large inelastic deformations and significant number of inelastic cycles when subject to severe earthquake ground motion. In seismic evaluation procedure, the performance of these elements in the inelastic range is required to be assessed. The element or structure will collapse when the earthquake induced inelastic deformations are larger than the element or structure can tolerate. This paper presents an analytical procedure developed to estimate the inelastic deformations of rigid, semi-rigid and flexible connections in Indian context. The performance levels and acceptance criteria are discussed.
Inelastic deformation, rigid-connection, semi-rigid connection, flexible connection
