Shear strength of panel zone in beam-to-column connections

The paper deals with the problem of evaluation of the panel zone (PZ) shear strength in beam-to-column connection. To this aim, the mechanical behaviour of the PZ and the European and American code provisions for the design of PZ are examined and critically discussed. Non-linear FEM analyses and experimental tests carried out on beam-to-column steel connections are also provided and compared with both European and American practices. Both numerical and experimental results have shown a good agreement with the American provisions. On the contrary, some drawbacks are identified in the application of European provisions, which cause overestimation of the PZ shear strength of about 50-60%. These differences could cause invalidation of the capacity design approach to the steel moment resisting frames, which in the case of European provisions should lead to strong panel zone, where the possibility of PZ yielding is precluded. Therefore, an improvement to the European code provisions is suggested in order to better evaluate the PZ shear strength. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.