ABSTRACT
Current steel design practice favours the use of socalled ‘simple’ beam to column connections, in the vast majority of steel framed buildings that are erected worldwide. In this context, the use of the word ‘connection’ implies that this is a connection made on site externally, usually with bolts; a ‘joint’ is used as a generic term but also often refers to a joint made under controlled conditions, usually by means of welding. For the purposes of calculation, ‘simple’ connections are assumed to behave structurally like hinges. In a minority of cases, rigid joints are used. Semi-rigid joint design has a role in those cases, where frame action is required because there is no cross-bracing but where full rigidity is not required. However it has yet to establish itself as a valid general method in steel frame design but there are important reasons for thinking that it will do so in the future (Nethercot 2007).
