Performance of Steel Shear Tab Connections at Elevated Temperatures

At the present time, there is a lack of understanding of the performance of structures as complete systems under extreme loading conditions such as realistic, uncontrolled fires. Current specifications for the design of steel structures in the U.S. do not require structural engineers to design for fire conditions. A key issue in evaluating the response of structural systems to fire effects is the response of the structural system, including connections. The typical design procedure of representing connections as fixed or pinned is inadequate when evaluating structural response to fire. This paper presents a first step towards developing a simplified representation of simple shear tab connections for use in structural analysis and design. First, recently developed temperature-dependent material models for different types of steels are implemented. Finite Element (FE) analyses of coupon models are performed to verify the implementation of these material models. Detailed, solid-element models of simple shear tab connections are developed, and analyses are performed to determine the failure modes at different temperatures. The failure modes and key features in the detailed model will be used to develop reduced models of shear tab connections for finite element analyses.

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