ABSTRACT
The four bolt unstiffened extended and the eight bolt stiffened extended moment end-plate connections were tested as a part of the SAC Steel Project to determine their suitability for use in seismic force resisting moment frames. The connections were “heavy” connections between large hot-rolled members that included W24, W30 and W36 beam sections. It was determined that end-plate connections can be designed to be very ductile and to meet the inelastic rotation requirements of the AISC Seismic Provisions for Structural Steel Buildings (1997) for special moment frames. A validation study was conducted utilizing the finite element method and has been shown to successfully predict the behavior of the end-plate connection.
