Design of semi-rigid steel-concrete composite frames for seismic performance

Abstract

In general practice, composite beams are designed with either simple connections or fully rigid moment connections due to lack of information on semi-rigid connections. But, semi-rigid composite connections will offer several advantages like strength, stiffness and economy to the system when compared to simple or moment connection. Although, several researchers have reported the advantages of semi-rigid frames, information for their optimal design is currently not available. In this study, 4, 8 and 12 storey composite plane frames in different seismic zones are designed and their capacity curve is compared with corresponding curves for rigid frames to study the limitations and economy of semi-rigid frames. It is shown that semi-rigid frames perform better in low to moderate seismic zones but may not be advantageous in severe seismic zones.