Characterization equations for steel column base connections

This paper presents partial results of a research program under way at Laval University for which the main goal is to introduce the behaviour of steel connections into commercial structural analysis software. The objective of this paper is to derive analytical characterization equations for three commonly used steel column base connections. The procedure to derive these equations is based on a curve standardization theory that requires a number of experimental results in the form of moment-rotation curves that characterize the behaviour of column base connections. Because of a lack of available experimental results, data were obtained from finite element models. The design of a simple steel structure introducing the semi-rigid behaviour of column bases is presented as an example. It shows that consideration of the semi-rigidity of column base connections increases the accuracy of the analysis results and leads to a decrease in structure weight and deformation.