This paper presents simple and practical moment connection for joining I beam to SHS or RHS column. An extended endplate is fillet welded to the beam. The connection involves welding pair of plates to the column web walls. This provides two brackets to the column at the connection region. Another plate, called herein bearing plate, is fillet welded perpendicular to the brackets at their other side. It functions instead of the column flange. Both the bearing plate and the extended endplate are then bolted. The simplicity of the connection is to make welding in workshop. Bolting is carried out in site. Bolts do not need access from inside column hollow section. The space between the bracket plates and the bearing plate should provide the required space for inserting the bolts. Stiffeners can be welded to the back of the bearing plate and the bracket plates. Bolts are tightened from the endplate side. The finite element analysis was used to model the behavior of the connection. Having verified the model, it was used to extend the data to a large number of joints. The study investigates the influence of changing dimensions and details of the endplate, bearing plate, bracket plates, column hollow section and column restraining conditions.
|