Investigation of Changing the Dimensions of the Connecting Parts of Beam-to-column Semi-rigid Connections on the Behavior and the Rigidity Percentage of this Connection

Structural analysis is very complicated in terms of actual behavior of its connections, and for this reason, by employing the concept of the beam line, certain stiffness is attributed to each connection and thus the connections are categorized. In this research, a semi-rigid connection with stiffener plates is considered in the connection between a beam web and a column. For this purpose, 64 analytical models are utilized, in which the features of stiffener plates, such as height, width, and thickness are changed. There are four variable modes for height, four variable modes for widths, and four variable modes for thickness, making a total of 64 different models. The connections were modeled under a nonlinear static analysis and then the momentum-rotation diagrams were plotted for each mode. So that, the behavior of the semi-rigid connection and the impact of the connecting plates on its performance was investigated. Finally, by comparing the results, a relationship was provided for estimating the rigidity percentage of a semi-rigid connection