ABSTRACT

Design of skeletal multi-storey buildings placed in seismic zone deals with some special provisions in order to satisfy the design concept for earthquake loads. Thus, some inelastic deformations must be concentrated in predefined zones for seismic energy dissipation. Therefore it is important to correctly evaluate the load bearing capacity of each basic structural element such as the beams, columns and of course the joints. The paper presents some results of experimental tests made on welded structural steel and composite joints, which were designed on the basis of eurocodes.