Study of Imperfect Connections and their Influence on the Behavior of Steel Frames

Abstract

Bolted end plate connections in steel structures are sensitive elements, they are responsible for successfully transferring internal forces and straining actions between different parts of the structure, they form an important part of virtually all steel structures, they used to assemble fabricated elements together and to transfer straining actions among different parts of the structure safely. Bolted end plate connections have been studied thoroughly for many years with a lot of published work and building codes recommendations, despite that, it appears that minor research has been carried out on connections with initial imperfections where the plates of the faying surface are not in full contact. Connections with initial imperfections are not uncommon, although they are present in many structures, they are somewhat hard to detect and of somewhat occasional occurrence, this could be the reason that building codes have no provisions regarding connections with initial imperfections. The current study is interested in moment resisting, extended bolted end plate connections with initial imperfections, it consists of five main parts. The first part is literature review discussing the lack of research in the field of initially imperfect bolted connections. The second part is an experimental program on a group of initially imperfect connections together with their ideal counterpart for