Cyclic plastic behavior of welded-flange and bolted-web connections in Special Moment Resisting Steel Frames

A specific type of welded-flange and bolted-web connection in Special Moment Resisting Steel Frame (SMRSF) has been experimentally studied for its cyclic loading behavior under displacement controlled test. The experimental program consisted of monotonic, constant drift and incremental drift tests. Constant drift tests were under fully reversed equal-drift, while incremental drift tests were under fully reversed increasing-drift. There were three kinds of beam sections connected with the same column section. The performance of the specimens was strongly related to the nature of flange groove-welds material strength, beam plastic rotation capacity and, plastic hinge location.