ABSTRACT
The use of “dog-bones”, i.e. the weakening of the beam section by properly trimming its flanges around the connection, has been proposed aiming at both the protection of the beam-to-column joints and the promotion of the plastic hinge formation in the beams rather than in the columns. In this paper the design issues regarding the use of “dog-bones” within a design procedure for failure mode control are dealt with. The design procedure, already proposed for rigid and semirigid frames, assures both the development of a collapse mechanism of global type and the fulfilment of the serviceability requirements. In order to stress the influence of the amount of reduction of beam flexural resistance obtained by means of “dog-bones”, and the influence of their location, the application of the design procedure is presented with reference to a significant structural situation.
