Abstract
The beam-to-column connections of steel rigid-frame piers are important in that they have a considerable impact on the seismic performance of the piers. The elastic design method based on the local peak stress which is produced by shear lag on the flanges of the beam-to-column connections has been applied in such connections until now.
The purpose of the authors' research is to ascertain the performance and limit state of the fillets which are installed on beam-to-column connections in order to improve the fatigue performance, and to establish the verification method of limit state for developing the rational design method of the beam-to-column connections. To this end, loading tests and elasto-plastic finite displacement analysis were conducted on test specimens with the same structural parameters as actual structures.
A review of the experimental and analysis results reveals the performance. Furthermore, the limit state of fillets is clarified by investigating the relation between the performance of a fillet and design load. As well, the performance verification method is proposed based on these results.
