In 1994 there was an earthquake occurred in Northridge, California which caused damage in structures built with Steel Moment Frames (SMF) due to the brittle fractures in the beam and column connections. It has led to the major modifications and improvements in the connection detailing prior to the earthquake occurred in the Northbridge. These changes came up with better materials for welding and introduced the use of cover plate and Reduced Beam Section (RBS). RBS connections are the most widely used connection today and it allows the SMF systems to yield extensively and deform plastically by avoiding brittle fracturing at connections. The most important factors that affect the response along with the design of Steel Moment Frames (SMF) and Reduced Beam Section (RBS) connections are connection strength, stiffness, connection type, use of deep columns and phenomena associated with its instability, the strength of ductility of the column panel zone-beam instability.

It was not thought that there would be some major flaws in the design of widely used steel moment frames until the Northridge Earthquake hit the California on January 17, 1994. Until then, steel moment frames were practiced as the most ductile system and were used in buildings from few stories to skyscrapers. The heavy devastation from Northridge Earthquake was an alarm for all the people related to the design and construction of such structures and pushed everybody to act fast to find some possible solutions to such never-expected-problems. Following the earthquake, FEMA entered into a cooperative agreement with the SAC joint venture in order to get a transparent picture of the problems in the seismic performance of steel moment frames and to come up with suitable recommendations. The research was specifically done to address the following things: to inspect the earthquake-affected buildings in order to determine the damage incurred in the buildings, to find out ways to repair the damaged buildings and upgrade the performance of existing buildings, and to modify the design of new buildings in order to make them more reliable for seismic performance. Among the various new design suggestions, the Reduced Beam Section (RBS) connection has been one of the most efficient and reliable option for high ductility demands. The purpose of this research was to study the behavior of concrete slabs in the performance of steel moment frames with reduced beam sections based on ductility, strength and stiffness. The slab is an integral part of a building. It is always wiser to consider the slab in order to assess accurately the seismic behavior of a building under the earthquake loading. In this research, two sets of finite element models were analyzed. Each set had one bare steel moment frame and one concrete slab frame which acted as a composite section. The connections were designed using the AISC Seismic Design manual (AISC 2012). The finite element modeling was done using NISA DISPLAY-IV (NISA 2010). All the models, with and without the slab were analyzed under the same boundary conditions and loads. Both non-linear and linear analyses were performed. The results from non-linear analysis were used to compare the ductility and strength whereas linear analysis results were used to compare the stiffness between bare steel and composite frame models.

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Steel moment frames are a popular seismic-force resisting system, but it is believed that they are susceptible to early fracture if there is a stress concentration in the plastic hinge region, also known as the protected zone. If a defect is present in this area, it may be repaired by grinding and/or welding, but little research has investigated how the repairs affect the performance of full-scale moment connections subjected to inelastic rotations. Thus, the goals of this research were to establish the performance of full-scale moment connections with repairs and defects, then develop a method for predicting fracture of the full-scale specimens using more economical cyclic bend tests. To do this, six full-scale reduced beam section (RBS) connections were tested having arrays of repairs or defects applied to the flanges. The repairs were 0.125 in. deep notches ground to a smooth taper and 0.25 in. deep notches ground to a smooth taper, welded, and ground smooth. The defects were sharp 0.25 in. and 0.375 in. notches. In addition, 54 bend tests were conducted on beam flange and bar stock coupons having the same repairs and defects, power actuated fasteners, puddle welds, and no artifacts. Finally, Coffin-Manson low-cycle fatigue relationships were calibrated using results from the cyclic bend tests with each artifact (repair, defect, or attachment method) and used in conjunction with estimates of full-scale plastic strain amplitudes to predict fracture of full-scale specimens. All four of the full-scale moment connections with repairs satisfied special moment frame qualification criteria (SMF). One full-scale specimen with sharp 0.25 in. notches satisfied SMF qualification criteria, but the flexural resistance dropped rapidly after the qualification cycle. On the other hand, the specimen with sharp 0.375 in. notches did not satisfy SMF qualification criteria due to ductile fractures propagating from the notches. The proposed method for predicting fracture of full-scale connections was validated using the six current and six previous full-scale RBS specimens. This method underpredicted fracture for eleven of the twelve specimens. The ratio of the actual to predicted cumulative story drift at fracture had a mean of 1.13 and a standard deviation of 0.19. / M.S. / Moment connections in steel structures resist earthquake loads by permanently deforming the material near the connection. This area is called the protected zone and is critical to the safety of the structure in an earthquake. Due to this importance, no defects are allowed near the connection, which can include gouges or notches. If a defect does occur, it must repaired by a grinding or welding. These are the required repair methods, but there have be no tests to determine how the repairs affect the strength and ductility of the connection. This research tested six full-scale moment connections with defects repaired by grinding and welding, as well as unrepaired defects. A correlation was also developed and validated between the full-scale tests and small-scale bend tests of steel bars with the same defects and repairs. This relationship is valuable because the small-scale tests are quicker and less expensive to conduct than the full-scale tests, meaning other defects or repairs could be easily tested in the future. All but one of the six full-scale specimens met the strength requirements and had adequate ductility. The one test specimen that failed had an unrepaired defect. The relationship between the full-scale and small-scale tests underpredicted fracture (a conservative estimate) for the five of the full-scale tests and overpredicted fracture (unconservative estimate) for one test.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Kimberly W. Kramer / Of seismic steel lateral force resisting systems in practice today, the Moment Frame has most diverse connection types. Special Moment frames resist lateral loads through energy dissipation of the inelastic deformation of the beam members. The 1994 Northridge earthquake proved that the standard for welded beam-column connections were not sufficient to prevent damage to the connection or failure of the connection. Through numerous studies, new methods and standards for Special Moment Frame connections are presented in the Seismic Design Manual 2nd Edition to promote energy dissipation away from the beam-column connection. A common type of SMF is the Reduce Beams Section (RBS). To encourage inelastic deformation away from the beam-column connection, the beam flange’s dimensions are reduced a distance away from the beam-column connection; making the member “weaker” at that specific location dictating where the plastic hinging will occur during a seismic event. The reduction is usually taken in a semi-circular pattern. Another type of SMF connection is the Kaiser Bolted Bracket® (KBB) which consists of brackets that stiffen the beam-column connection. KBB connections are similar to RBS connections as the stiffness is higher near the connection and lower away from the connection. Instead of reducing the beam’s sectional properties, KBB uses a bracket to stiffen the connection. The building used in this parametric study is a 4-story office building. This thesis reports the results of the parametric study by comparing two SMF connections: Reduced Beam Section and Kaiser Bolted Brackets. This parametric study includes results from three Seismic Design Categories; B, C, and D, and the use of two different foundation connections; fixed and pinned. The purpose of this parametric study is to compare member sizes, member forces, and story drift. The results of Seismic Design Category D are discussed in depth in this thesis, while the results of Seismic Design Category B and C are provided in the Appendices.