Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

In Limit States Design for steel structures, single plate connections are designed to transfer beam shear to supporting member. These connections, with the connection plate shop-welded to the supporting member and field-bolted to the supported beam are becoming increasingly popular due to their economy and ease of fabrication. Single plate connections are very suitable for cases where speed of erection is a primary consideration. They are particularly superior for skewed connections. Traditional design methods which deal with connection problems generally give over-conservative solutions to this complex problem. Two series of experimental investigations of single plate connections for beam-to-girder webs were conducted. A variety of connections were tested to demonstrate their feasibility and to collect data for analytical correlation studies. The ultimate goal of these tests and studies is to devise a rational basis for the design of these connections. This work is part of a comprehensive research project and the reader is referred to other papers (References 1 and 2) for completeness. Based on experimental results and theoretical correlation studies, a modified design formula is proposed in order to predict the ultimate capacity of single plate connections. The formula tries to incorporate the influences of applied loads (shear force, torsional moment, and bending moment), resistance of the single plate connection, skew angle of the connection plate and type of holes (slotted and standard) used in the connection. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate

A practical method of incorporating realistic flexible connections including the effect of connection sizes and shear deflection in plane frame analysis is presented. The general algorithm can be easily implemented in a standard plane frame analysis program and once implemented it can be an ideal tool for production work in the steel industry. In this approach connection stiffness is programmed directly into the analysis by utilizing the connection moment-rotation equations developed by Frye and Morris but it may also be entered separately as data. Nonlinear connection analysis is carried out by the procedure outlined by Frye and Morris. Practical application of this method of analysis is demonstrated by modifying a standard plane frame analysis program to include the effect of flexible connections. The validity of the modified program, CPlane, was verified against the findings of Moncarz and Gerstle. Using CPlane, a simple plane frame structure was analyzed under various lateral load intensities for different connection assumptions. It was found that the inclusion of connection behavior significantly altered the internal force distribution and design of the structure. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (M. App. Sc.)--Carleton University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-93). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

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Stainless steel profiled walls have increasingly been used in the process and other industries to protect people and personnel against hydrocarbon or chemical explosions. The existence of various uncertainties, in particular the ones associated with explosion loading and parameters, make the current design and assessment which are based on single degree of freedom (SDOF) and deterministic approach, very complicated and in many cases leading to unreliable design assessment. Therefore, developing an appropriate reliability approach for assessing and designing blast wall structures would greatly assist in improving the safety of personnel and plant facilities. The objective of this research study is to develop a practical framework for performance based design of stainless steel profiled barrier blast walls, with specific focus on reliability assessment by implementing stochastic finite element analysis (SFEA). Initially, the current traditional SDOF method is reviewed to identify the related issues and weaknesses and accordingly an appropriate method for structural assessments of the blast walls is proposed. Furthermore, a comprehensive investigation on various available methods is carried out to identify a suitable probabilistic approach for the reliability assessments. The corresponding reliability of these structures is evaluated with a MCS method, implementing the Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) approach. A programming package is developed using Ansys Parametric Design Language (APDL), to generate parametric finite element models and to perform automated reliability assessments. The significant uncertainties are combined with an advanced analysis model to investigate the influence of loading, material and geometric uncertainties on the response of these structures under realistic boundary conditions and connection configuration. Effective implementation of the framework is achieved by the development of a combined programming package to deal with both finite element and reliability analyses. A further development for this research study is associated with the development of performance based design approach, using the results of the probabilistic and finite element assessments. This can be utilised for optimum and appropriate design of the blast wall structures, based on the defined performance levels. Application and practicality of the developed approach and associated programming package is demonstrated through a number of case studies of realistic stainless steel profiled barriers subject to explosion loading. The results of the preliminary probabilistic case studies confirm that the explosion loading is the main influential input parameter and also nonlinearities are more critical than dynamic effects for unstiffened profiled barrier blast walls. An appropriate dynamic load factor (DLF) is proposed for the preliminary stage of the design and assessments. It is observed that using the probabilistic approach can help identify the important variables and parameters to optimize the design of profiled blast walls, and to perform risk assessments for these structures. The study is expanded to develop a performance based design methodology, linking the probabilistic results with various performance levels and associated parameters (e.g., damage levels). The results and discussions of the case studies associated with performance based design assessments confirm the suitability of the proposed framework, and also highlight the complications in defining intermediate levels, without preliminary investigations. This shows that QRA approach and involvement of professionals can play an important role to develop performance levels and the associated objectives. The developed programming package and associated framework are expected to provide valuable guidance to professional design engineers and researchers, by obviating the need for complex computational requirements.

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This thesis investigates the performance of cold formed steel framed domestic structures subjected to earthquake loads. These structures generally include one and two storey houses, comprising steel wall framing, exterior veneer cladding and internal lining. The dynamic, non-linear performance of such structures during earthquakes is simplified to static linear behaviour for design purposes using the structural response modification factor, Rµ. This factor is defined as the product of the structural ductility reduction factor, Rµ, and the over-strength of the system, Ω. This thesis develops a rigorous technique for the determination of Rµ and the application of this technique is demonstrated for a proprietary framing system. This is achieved using novel non-linear, transient dynamic finite element models of these structures subjected to earthquake loads. The model parameters are estimated from unique experiments conducted on representative structures using a shaking table. It is shown that the framing system considered is non-ductile (ie Rµ≈1). This result directly contradicts the assumed ductile behaviour of these framing systems as specified in the Australian earthquake loading standard, AS 1170.4. The significance of this is that current design practices are unconservative and therefore underestimate the earthquake loads on these structures.