A Stress Magnification Factor for Plates With Welding-Induced Curvatures

The fatigue strength of thin-walled structures can be reduced significantly by non-linear secondary bending effects resulting from geometrical imperfections such as axial and angular misalignments. The welding-induced distortions can cause a critical increase of the structural hot-spot stress in the vicinity of the weld. Traditionally, the classification society rules for the fatigue strength assessment of welded ship structures suggest an analytical formula for a stress magnification factor km for axial and angular misalignment under axial loading condition. Recently, the well-known analytical solution for the angular misalignment has been extended to account for the curvature effect. The present paper analyses the effect of non-ideal, intermediate boundary conditions between fixed and pinned ends. In this regard, the fixity factors ρ (with 0 ≤ ρ ≤ 1 from ideally pinned to clamped conditions) are introduced in order to model the actual constraint on the rotation close to the ends. Under tension, a non-negligible decrease of the km factor is observed in relation to the reduction of the fixity factor at the welded end, while the fixity factor related to the loaded end has a minor effect on the km factor. Under compression, the reduction of the beam end fixity factors results into lower buckling resistance.

Development of Rotational Fixity Factors for Vibration Design of Cross-Laminated Timber Floors

As an emerging building solution, cross-laminated timber (CLT) floors have been increasingly used in mass timber construction. The current vibration design of CLT floors is conservative due to the assumption of simple support conditions in the floor-to-wall connections. It is noted that end fixity occurs as a result of clamping action at the ends, arising from the gravity load applied by the structure above the floor and by the mechanical fasteners. In this paper, the semi-rigid floor-to-wall connections are treated as elastically restrained edges against rotations to account for the effect of partial constraint. A rotational end-fixity factor was first defined to reflect the relative bending stiffness between CLT floors and elastic restraints at the edges. Then, for the design of vibration serviceability of CLT floors as per the Canadian Standard for Engineering Design in Wood (CSA O86), restraint coefficients were defined and their analytical expressions were derived for natural frequencies and the mid-span deflection under a concentrated load, respectively. In particular, a simplified formula of the restraint coefficient for the fundamental frequency was developed to assist engineers in practical design. At last, by comparing with reported experimental data, the proposed design formula showed excellent agreement with test results. In the end, the proposed end fixity factor with their corresponding restraint coefficients is recommended as an effective mechanics-based approach to account for the effect of end support conditions of CLT floors.

CRITICAL LOADS OF SQUARE PLATES UNDER DIFFERENT INPLANE LOAD CONFIGURATIONS ON OPPOSITE EDGES

The elastic critical load coefficients of square plates, under different inplane load configurations on opposite plate edges, are determined and the results compared. The stability analysis was performed by a finite element method that was developed by the authors. The parameters considered in the analysis are the Kinney's fixity factor, and the width factor of the patch load. It was found that the coefficients of the critical loads increase with increasing values of fixity and width factors. The opposite tendency is that a plate under a patch loaded towards the two corners of an edge is more stable than a plate loaded concentrically at the center of the edge.

Second-order analysis for semirigid steel frame design

This paper presents an analysis method in which both the nonlinear rotational behaviour of beam-to-column connections and second-order (P-Δ and P-δ) effects of beam-column members are explicitly taken into account. By adopting the concept of an end-fixity factor, the proposed method is comprehensive regardless of the end rotational conditions of beam-column members and applies to frames with any combination of pinned, semirigid and rigid beam-to-column connections. In addition, the end-fixity factor simplifies the analysis procedure for semirigid frames. More importantly, the end-fixity factor may be valuable to the design of such structures because it provides a physical interpretation of the extent of rigidity available in a connection. Thus, it provides a convenient way for designers to compare the structural responses of a semirigid member to that of a rigid one. Examples are presented to demonstrate the validity and efficiency of the proposed approach. With only minor modifications, the proposed method is readily implemented in existing rigid frame analysis and design computer programs.Key words: steel frame, semirigid connection, second-order analysis, P-Δ effect.

Behaviour of a simple column base connection

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the behaviour of steel column base connections. The connection is effected by means of a steel base plate welded to the lower end of the column and attached to the concrete footing with two or four anchor bolts. The testing program comprised 15 specimens. The measured moment–rotation curves were used to determine the fixity factors of the base connections, taking into account the presence of an axial compression load.The results indicate that the compression force in the column significantly increases the flexural stiffness of the base connection and that the rotational restraint offered by the column base is sufficient to be considered in design. The results also show that the method of analysis used to determine the ultimate moment capacity of the base connection is conservative. Key words: steel column, column base connection, moment–rotation curve, anchor bolt, flexibility factor, fixity factor.