Nov 2012

End-Plate Moment Connections

Our research group has done a substantial amount of testing and analysis of end-plate moment connections, much of which has been done in collaboration with Thomas M. Murray. AISC Design Guide 39 will be published in 2023 authored by M.R. Eatherton and T.M. Murray, and will supersede the previous Design Guide 4 and 16.  Design Guide 39 provides design and detailing procedures for end-plate moment connections, whether they are for gravity / wind loading or for use in high seismic design.

 

Below is a picture from a project examining the seismic behavior of eight bolt extended stiffened end-plate moment connections.  The picture was taken after many cycles of loading up to an effective story drift of 4% (Stevens et al. 2020).

The picture below shows a project in which connection schemes were being investigated for seismic performance with beams having noncompact or slender webs.  The configuration having horizontal stiffeners was found to be a reasonable solution.  For more details, see:

Eatherton, M.R., Chen, Y.*, Laknejadi, K., and Murray, T.M. (2017) “Using Longitudinal Stiffeners to Mitigate Buckling of Noncompact and Slender Beam Webs in Ductile Moment Frame Connections” Proceedings of the Annual Stability Conference, Structural Stability Research Council, San Antonio, TX, March 21-24.

 

Selected Technical Reports

• Stevens, R.T., Eatherton, M.R., Murray, T.M. (2020) Effect of Stiffener Weld Detail on Cyclic Performance of End-Plate Moment Connections, Virginia Tech Structural Engineering and Materials Report No. CE/VPI-ST-20/05.
• Zarat-Basir, M., Eatherton, M.R., and Murray, T.M. (2020) Testing Of Stiffened And Unstiffened Twelve Bolt Extended End-Plate Moment Connections, Structural Engineering and Materials Report No. CE/VPI-ST-20-01.
• Wei, G.*, Koutromanos, I., Murray, T.M., and Eatherton, M.R. (2017) Computational Study of Tension Field Action in Gable Frame Panel Zones, Virginia Tech Structural Engineering and Materials Report Series, Report No. CE/VPI-ST-17/03.
• Szabo, T.*, Eatherton, M.R., He, X.*, and Murray, T.M. (2017) Study of a Twelve Bolt Extended Stiffened End-Plate Moment Connection, Virginia Tech Structural Engineering and Materials Report Series, Report No. CE/VPI-ST-17/02.
• Jain, N., Eatherton, M.R., and Murray, T.M. “Developing and Validating New Botled End-Plate Moment Connection Configurations”, Virginia Tech Structural Engineering and Materials Report No. CE/VPI-ST-15/08.