Estimation of the initial stiffness and moment resistance of steel and composite joints

Aleksander Kozlowski1, Ryszard Kowalczyk2 and Marian Gizejowski3

1
Rzeszow University of Technology, Rzeszow, Poland, Tel: +48 17 854 11 27, Email: kozlowsk@prz,edu.pl
2
University of Beira Interior, Covilha, Portugal, Email: rkow@ubi.pt
3
Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland, Email: m.gizejowski@il.pw.edu.pl

Abstract
In the advanced design of framed multi-storey buildings, actual properties of joints and connection should be taken into
account. It is namely: initial stiffness and moment resistance of a joint. The best way to obtain theses characteristics is
experimental testing, but tests are very costly and time consuming. Based on the results from experiments and
numerical analysis, few analytical methods were developed, amongst them component method, to estimate the
moment-rotation characteristic of joints. This method was applied also in design codes. In the lately approved
Eurocodes – Eurocode 3 (EC-3, 2005) and Eurocode 4 (EC-4, 2004), procedures allowing calculation of the initial
stiffness and moment resistance of steel welded and end-plate bolted joints as well as composite joints are introduced.
Eurocodes comprise also the method of classification of joints according to their strength as well as methods of global
analysis correlated to this classification. Calculation of moment resistance and initial stiffness of a joint, following
kozlowsk@prz.edu.pl rkow@ubi.pt
Eurocode procedures is rather troublesome and time consuming, so there is a need to develop design tools in the form of
Aleksander Kozlowski
computer programs,
EMPLOYMENT (lastdiagrams or simple
three): Rzeszów formulasoffor
University estimation Poland,
Technology, of theseUniversity
values forofeveryday designCovilha,
Beira Interior, practice.Portugal
For this
reasonSCIENTIFIC
MAIN a computer program ACHIEVEMENTS:CRSJAE was developed, which includes full Eurocode procedures. Using this program
wide parametric
•books, monographs:
study was conducted, resulting, after regression analysis, in simple formulas for calculation of the main
- Brodka J., Kozlowski
semi-rigid joint characteristics. Comparison A.: with
Strength
someand Stiffness
available of Semi-Rigid
experimental testJoints.
resultsMonograph,
shows quite 322
goodpages.
agreement.
(in Polish). Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Rzeszowskiej. Rzeszow, 1996.
- Kozlowski A.: Shaping of the Steel and Composite Skeletons with Semi-Rigid Joints. Monograph,
Keywords: steel joints, composite joints, stiffness of joints, moment resistance, Eurocodes
206 pages.(in Polish). Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Rzeszowskiej. Rzeszow, 1999.
- Brodka J., Kozlowski.: Skeleton Steel Buildings. Academic book (in Polish). Oficyna Wydawnicza
Introduction
Politechniki Rzeszowskiej. Rzeszow, 2003. person. Such calculation should be done in the final phase
Amongst
structural
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properties.
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Kowalczyk The task of this paper is to provide design
PRESENT AFFILIATION: Full Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering and for
joints, used in the classification of joints with regard to guidelines the evaluation
Architecture, of moment
University of Beiraresistances and
Interior since
their stiffness
1992. (rigid, semi-rigid, nominally pinned), as initial stiffnesses of different types of steel and composite
well as in initial
SCIENTIFIC stability analysis
CAREER: MSc of frames
- Warsaw and in global
University joints in 1951,
of Technology the form PhDofinsimple
1957, formulas.
and DrSc Since considered
in 1967. In 1992
analysis carried out for the calculation of member forces joints are commonly
Title of Professor. Honorary Professor: Cracow University of Technology (2001) and Silesian University of Technologyused in steel tall buildings, the
with
(2004). regard to the actual stiffness of structural joints results of this study may be interesting for structural
(GiĪejowski, 2006).
PROFESSIONAL CAREER: over 50 years in research, consulting engineers involvedin various
and teaching in design of framed
universities steel and
and research in-
EC-3 (EC-3, 2005) and EC-4 (EC-4, 2004) provide steel-concrete composite
stitutes in his native Poland as well as abroad (Warsaw University of Technology, Bialystok University of Technology, buildings.
methodsofofBuilding
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joints according to their
of Fundamental Technological Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Fritz
strength and stiffness, Parametric study of moment resistance and initial
Leonhardt Design Office,together
Stuttgart,with methods
Germany, Theof University
global of Calgary, Canada, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, USA).
analysis correlated
UNESCO to this classification.
expert in vocational and technical Alsoeducation stiffness
methodsinofthe Middle East (1983 – 1989)
the calculation
MAIN RESEARCH of AREAS:
initial stiffness anddynamics
structures, design moment Eurocodes
of structures, structural systems EC-3 (EC-3,
of tall 2005) Author
buildings. and EC-4 (EC-4,
or co-author
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over 80 papers steel and
in technical steel-concrete
journals composite
and conference 2004)
proceedings andcomprise
7 books and design procedures to calculate the
monographs.
joints areofthere
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above Committee
Permanent resistance
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mentioned joint properties is rather troublesome and time procedures are based on the component method. Analysis
consuming. It is enough to say, that hand calculation of of design procedures used in these codes for the
the moment resistance and initial stiffness of bolted joint, calculation of initial stiffness and moment resistance of
takes more that two hours of work of an experienced steel bolted end-plate joints shows that these

CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 

 Estimation of the initial stiffness and moment resistance of steel and composite joints

Aleksander Kozlowski1, Ryszard Kowalczyk2 and Marian Gizejowski3

1
Rzeszow University of Technology, Rzeszow, Poland, Tel: +48 17 854 11 27, Email: kozlowsk@prz,edu.pl
2
University of Beira Interior, Covilha, Portugal, Email: rkow@ubi.pt
3
Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland, Email: m.gizejowski@il.pw.edu.pl

Abstract
In the advanced design of framed multi-storey buildings, actual properties of joints and connection should be taken into
account. It is namely: initial stiffness and moment resistance of a joint. The best way to obtain theses characteristics is
experimental testing, but tests are very costly and time consuming. Based on the results from experiments and
numerical analysis, few analytical methods were developed, amongst them component method, to estimate the
moment-rotation characteristic of joints. This method was applied also in design codes. In the lately approved
Eurocodes – Eurocode 3 (EC-3, 2005) and Eurocode 4 (EC-4, 2004), procedures allowing calculation of the initial
stiffness and moment resistance of steel welded and end-plate bolted joints as well as composite joints are introduced.
Eurocodes comprise also the method of classification of joints according to their strength as well as methods of global
analysis correlated to this classification. Calculation of moment resistance and initial stiffness of a joint, following
Eurocode procedures is rather troublesome and time consuming, so there is a need to develop design tools in the form of
computer programs, diagrams or simple formulas for estimation of these values for everyday design practice. For this
reason a computer program CRSJAE was developed, which includes full Eurocode procedures. Using this program
wide parametric study was conducted, resulting, after regression analysis, in simple formulas for calculation of the main
semi-rigid joint characteristics. Comparison with some available experimental test results shows quite good agreement.

Keywords: steel joints, composite joints, stiffness of joints, moment resistance, Eurocodes

Introduction person. Such calculation should be done in the final phase

Amongst structural systems applied in multi-storey
building, framed structures are still widely used in
practice. In advanced design of steel framed structures,
applying semi-rigid philosophy, actual properties of joints
and connection i.e. moment resistance and stiffness,
should be taken into account. In the pre-design phase of
the structural engineer activity, it is required to estimate
not only preliminary member section sizes but also joint
properties. Especially important is the initial stiffness of
joints, used in the classification of joints with regard to
their stiffness (rigid, semi-rigid, nominally pinned), as
well as in initial stability analysis of frames and in global
analysis carried out for the calculation of member forces
with regard to the actual stiffness of structural joints
(GiĪejowski, 2006).
EC-3 (EC-3, 2005) and EC-4 (EC-4, 2004) provide
methods of classification of joints according to their
strength and stiffness, together with methods of global
analysis correlated to this classification. Also methods of
the calculation of initial stiffness and design moment
resistance of structural steel and steel-concrete composite
joints are there included. Hand calculation of the above
mentioned joint properties is rather troublesome and time
consuming. It is enough to say, that hand calculation of
the moment resistance and initial stiffness of bolted joint,
takes more that two hours of work of an experienced
of design process, when checking the safety of a joint
must be proved and this is very often done with the help
of computer programs. For pre-design or for a conceptual
phase of design it is necessary to supply designers with
tools in the form of simple formulas and/or tables, which
would allow for the estimation of main parameters of the
joint characteristic in an easy way (Steenhuis, 1994),
(Steenhuis, 1996).
The task of this paper is to provide design
guidelines for the evaluation of moment resistances and
initial stiffnesses of different types of steel and composite
joints in the form of simple formulas. Since considered
joints are commonly used in steel tall buildings, the
results of this study may be interesting for structural
engineers involved in design of framed steel and
steel-concrete composite buildings.
Parametric study of moment resistance and initial
stiffness
Eurocodes EC-3 (EC-3, 2005) and EC-4 (EC-4,
2004) comprise design procedures to calculate the
moment resistance and initial stiffness of joints. These
procedures are based on the component method. Analysis
of design procedures used in these codes for the
calculation of initial stiffness and moment resistance of
steel bolted end-plate joints shows that these

 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008

characteristics depend on the following parameters (see
Fig. 1):
- thickness of the end plate tp,
- beam section height,
- column section height,
- diameter and grade of the bolts,
- member steel properties,
- horizontal distance of bolts "w",
- vertical distance of bolts "mx",
- width of end plate.
Fig. 3. Relationship between initial stiffness of the steel joint and height
of the beam

Fig. 4. Relationship between initial stiffness of the steel joint and

thickness of the end plate
Fig. 1. Key geometric parameters for end-plate joints

To investigate influence of above mentioned

factors on the main properties of a joint, a wide
parametrical study was conducted. Calculation of the
initial stiffness and moment resistance of joints was made
by computer program CRSJAE (Kozáowski and Pisarek,
1997) developed in Rzeszow University of Technology,
Poland. This program was built in the form of EXCEL
spreadsheet routine that includes full EC-3 (EC-3, 2005)
and EC-4 (EC-4, 2004) design procedures.
Few examples of the relationship of initial stiffness Fig. 5. Relationship between initial stiffness of the steel joint and bolt
of the steel joint Sj.ini vs some of the above mentioned diameter
parameters are shown in Figs. 2 to 6 (denoted there by
Sj). Each joint was considered either as unstiffened, i.e.
not stiffened (without stiffeners), or as partially or fully
stiffened.

Fig. 6. Relationship between initial stiffness of the steel joint and

vertical spacing of the bolt rows
Fig. 2. Relationship between initial steel joint stiffness and height of the
column

CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 

Development of simple formulas regression analysis.
Results presented in Figs. 2 to 6 and conclusions Final formulas for various types of welded and
drawn from the parametrical studies carried out indicate end-plate bolted steel joints are shown in Table 1. The
that the initial stiffness of steel joint depends mainly on following explanation is provided for Table 1:
the height of beam and column sections, bolt diameter
and end-plate thickness. These parameters were taken as - thickness of end-plate: tp in mm,
variables to obtain simplified formulas. - height of the beam section (IPE): hb in mm,
- height of the column section (HEB): hc in mm,
As constant parameters, the following ones were - bolt diameter: d in mm.
considered as the most commonly used in practice:
- steel grade S235 (Fe 360), Simple formulas for the evaluation of initial
- bolt grade 10.9, stiffness and moment resistance of steel-concrete
- beam sections IPE, composite joints were obtained also using program
- column sections HEB, CRSJAE, in which reinforcement concrete part
- horizontal distance of bolts w = 3.5 d, components are activated as to the EC-4 procedure. The
- vertical distance of bolts mx = 1.5 d, bases for numerical simulations were: characteristics of
bare steel joints (their initial stiffness and moment
b fc  b fb resistance) and additionally, thickness of the concrete slab
bp but b p t b fb
- width of end plate 2 . tr and the reinforcement ratio µ. Employing regression
analysis, formulas for composite joint properties were
As variable parameters xi and boundary limits, the obtained. The final results are presented in Table 2.
following was adopted:
- thickness of end plate:
The explanation introduced for Table 1 holds also
x1 t p  ( 12, 30) in mm for Table 2, and additionally:
,
- concrete slab thickness: tr in mm,
- height of the beam section (IPE): - reinforcement ratio: P in %.
x2 h b  (160,400) in mm , Comparison of proposed simplified formulas for
selected steel joints
- height of the column section (HEB):
To verify these formulas, a comparison of
x3 h c  (140,400) in mm , properties of selected steel joints is made, using fully
documented experimental test results taken from data
- bolt diameter: base Sericon (Weynand, 1992). A summary of the main
test data is presented in Table 3. Figs. 7 to 9 show, as
x4 d  ( 16, 24) in mm . examples, the comparison of initial stiffness and
moment resistance of steel joints as reproduced from
Theory of experiment design was used to find experimental tests, evaluation according to EC-3 full
simple formula for the evaluation of initial stiffness and procedure and estimation using simplified formulas
moment resistance of considered steel joints. Detailed presented in Table 1.
description of this method was presented elsewhere
(Kozáowski and Pisarek, 1995), (Kozáowski, 1997). All
numerical simulations were made using CRSJAE
program and their results were used in regression analysis
to obtain simplified equations of the following format:

S j.ini = A ˜ t ap ˜ h bb ˜ h cc ˜ d e  B (1)

M Rd = C ˜ t fp ˜ h gb ˜ h ck ˜ d n  D (2)

where: Fig. 7. Comparison for test no. 101.010 – experimental results, EC-3
A, B (C, D)– constants for the evaluation of initial component method and proposal of this study
stiffness (moment resistance) obtained from the
regression analysis,
a, b, c, e (f, g, k, n) – exponents for the evaluation
of initial stiffness (moment resistance) obtained from the

 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008

Table 1. Formulas for the estimation of the moment resistance MRd and initial stiffness Sj.ini of steel joints.

CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 

 Table 2. Formulas for estimation of the moment resistance MRd and initial stiffness Sj.ini for composite joints

..

Table 3. Summary of experimental test data of selected steel end-plate joints

 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008


Fig. 8. Comparison for test no. 101.013 – experimental results, EC-3
component method and proposal of this study
Fig. 9. Comparison for test no. 109.001 – experimental results, EC-3
component method and proposal of this study
Comparison of results presented in Figs. 7 to 9
shows that proposed computational estimation of main
characteristics of joints gives an approximation to test
results within the range of ca 30% for the initial stiffness
and moment resistance of joints. Moreover, although
there are differences between the initial stiffness values
obtained from full EC-3 design procedure and those
obtained from developed simple formulas, they are small
and this constitutes a proof that proposed formulas might
be recommended for practical applications, especially for
the pre-design stage of structural engineering activity.
Conclusions
The results of calculations presented in this study
allow for the formulation of the following conclusions:
The suggested procedure of using simple formulas
for the estimation of initial stiffness and moment
resistance of joints proved to be very useful and easy for
preliminary design of framed structures with semi-rigid
joints.
Developed in the paper formulas based on
Eurocodes 3 and 4 can estimate the main parameters of
the moment-rotation characteristic of joints with accuracy
not lower than 30%. This is not an excellent result, but
taking into account the complicity and interrelationship
of parameters involved and relatively simple procedure, it
can be considered as sufficient from engineering point of
view.
The suggested procedure gives to the engineer a
tool to estimate by computation the values, which
previously were proposed to be assessed by “good
guessing” procedure (Steenhuis, 2004) and relates these
values to real parameters involved in joint functioning,
such as for instance: bolts diameters, end-plate thickness
and column sizes.
The method, thanks its simplicity, can be easy
applied for pre-design of multi-story buildings, in which
there are many different types of joints with various
dimensions and solutions. Using simple formulas, it
allows on considerable shortening of computation time
for estimation of the necessary main characteristics of
joints.
References
Eurocode 3 (2005). EN 1993-1-8. Design of steel structures - Part 1-8:
Design of joints. CEN, Brussels.
Eurocode 4 (2004). EN 1994-1-1. Design of composite steel and
concrete structures – Part 1-1: General rules and rules for buildings.
CEN, Brussels.
GIZEJOWSKI M.A., BARSZCZ A.M., KOZLOWSKI A., Sleczka
L.(2006). Modelling, analysis and design of steel semi-continuous
frames. In: Progress in Steel, Composite and Aluminium Structures
(Eds. M.A. Gizejowski, A. Kozlowski, L. Sleczka, J. Ziolko). Taylor &
Francis, London.
KOZLOWSKI A. (1997). Research activity in the field of semi - rigid
joint in Rzeszow University of Technology. COST C1. Doc. C1/ WD2/
97 -14. Rzeszow.
KOZLOWSKI A., Pisarek Z. (1995). Moment resistance and stiffness
of end plate connections according to PN and EC3. Proceedings XLI
Conf. KILiW PAN i KN PZITB. Krynica (in Polish).
KOZLOWSKI A, Pisarek Z. (1997). Program CRSJAE for calculation
the moment resistance and stiffness of steel joint according to EC-3.
Rzeszow University of Technology. Rzeszow (in Polish).
STEENHUIS M., GRESNIGT N., WEYNAND K. (1994). Pre-design
of semi-rigid joints in steel frames. Proceedings of the Second State of
the Art COST C1 Workshop. Prague.
STEENHUIS M., EVERS H., GRESNIGT N. (1996). Conceptual
design of joints in braced frames. Proceedings of the Twelfth IABSE
Colloquium „Semi - Rigid Structural Connections”. Istambul.
WEYNAND K. (1992). SERICON - databank on joints in building
frames. COST C1 "Semi-Rigid Behaviour of Civil Engineering
Structural Connections". Doc. C1/WD2/93-22. Strasbourg.
CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008