Despite the increasing usage of steel casting connections in building structures in recent years, no systematical research has been carried out on the structural design of the connections due to the complexity of the configurations and stress distribution. In this paper, important issues on structural design of cast steel connections, including material properties, design criteria, theoretical and experimental stress/deformation analysis techniques, are addressed based on engineering applications and research experience. Of the three potential design criteria for cast steel connections, fully plasticity criterion is basically not applicable, whereas the elasticity criterion and partial plasticity criterion are usually used and the corresponding design methods are recommended. Through case studies, stress distribution and empirical equation estimating the resistance of certain joints with relatively regular configuration are demonstrated. Experimental analysis techniques are also discussed in the aspects of loading systems and appropriate simulation of restraints. For a cast steel joint with complicated configuration, experiment is a reliable way to verify its actual quality and structural capacity: results thus obtained can be used to validate corresponding finite element analysis, so that more exact information on the joint behavior may become available.
