Abstract
Brittle fracture in steel frames during an earthquake is triggered by a ductile crack initiated at a hot spot of inevitable discontinuities encountered at steel connections. Such a hot spot is subjected to a severe strain concentration as well as a high stress triaxiality. The capacity of global strain over the whole section which is susceptible to fracture is an important source of member ductility beyond the elastic limit to survive a destructive earthquake. It is knwon that the global strain capacity prior to the initiation of a ductile crack is governed by the stress triaxiality and strain concentration factors at the hot spot. Finite element analyses in this study enumerate the data on these factors for typical steel connections under a plane strain condition which provide conservative information for fracture control design.
