Global Advanced Research Journal of Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ISSN: 2315-5124) Vol. 3(3) pp.

055-069, April, 2014

Available online http://garj.org/garjeti/index.htm
Copyright 2013 Global Advanced Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Behavior of End-Plate Steel Connections Stiffened with

Stiffeners of Different Geometrical Dimensions
Rafaat E. S. Ismail, A. ShamelFahmy, A. M. Khalifa and Yosra M. Mohamed
Structural Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
Accepted 20 September 2013

This paper describes the development of 3-dimensional finite element modeling for different types of endplate steel connections. A general purpose ABAQUS software package was used to simulate the
connection rotational behavior. The numerical model took into account material nonlinearity, geometrical
nonlinearity, initial imperfection and the pretension force in the bolts. The finite element models are
adjusted, compared and validated with the experimental results until reliable and robust models are
achieved. The numerical results were calibrated with experimental results ''briefly reviewed in this paper''
and verified that the numerical model can simulate and analyze the overall and detailed behavior of
different types of end-plate connections. Parametric study was carried out to investigate the rotational
behavior with variations in: bolt diameter, end-plate thickness, length of column stiffener, angle of rib
stiffener. Through the parametric study, the results are analyzed on the basis of the global moment
rotation curves. The main parameters observed are the failure modes, the evolution of the resistance, the
stiffness and the rotation capacity. The rotational behavior of the end-plate connection has been discussed
in detail, and a recommendation for the design purpose has been made.
Keywords: Extended end-plate, End-plate connection, Moment rotation, End-plate stiffener, Finite element
analysis.
INTRODUCTION
Extended end-plate connections are widely used in steel
structures as moment resistance connections and as an
alternative to fully welded ones that has been considered
for use in steel frames. These connections consist of
end-plate welded to the end of beam and field bolted to
the connecting column (Fig.1). The behaviors of endplate connections significantly influence the internal

Corresponding

author

email

kshfahmy@link.net

forces and over all deformations of the structures. The

problem of connections flexibility and its effects on the
behavior of steel structure has been an area of interest to
engineers and scientists for more than 90 years. Endplate connections are commonly classified as semi-rigid
joints, because the concept of perfect rigid or pinned is a
pure theoretical point of view. These connections should
be classified in terms of relationship between the moment
transmitted by the connection and their rotation in-plane
of the connection. According to EuroCode 3 (2003) and
most researches; it can be classified by its rotational
stiffness, strength and ductility.

056 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Eng. Technol. Innov.

Figure 1 Connection configuration

Many researches were carried out on end-plate

connections to determine an accurate method for
predicting the connection rotational behavior. Also to
investigate the monotonic and cyclic performance of endplate steel connections analytically and experimentally.
M. A. Dabaon (2010), presented a review article which
described the classification of beam-to-column joints,
reported the experimental work on composite joints.
M. A. Dabaonet et al., (2002), presented a simple
formulabased on EC3 to predict the initial rotation
stiffnessof the semi-rigid joints before designing it.
Y. Shi, G.et al., (2007), presented a new theoretical
model to evaluate the M- relation for stiffened and
extended steel beam-column end-plate connection. In
addition five specimens were tested under monotonic
loads to verify the analytical model.
M. R. Mohamadi-Shooreet et al., (2011). developeda
new exponential model to predict the standard M curve
of bolted end-plate connections.
C.Faella et al. (1997) investigated the relations between
the parameters representing the rotational behavior of
extended end- plate connections and their dependence
on the geometrical details by a large number of numerical
analysis.
J. Ghaboussiet al. (2007) and M. E. Lemoniset al. (2009),
developed a component-based model for the mechanical
representation of the beam-to-column connection.
Three-dimensional finite element models was modeled by
O.S Bursi et al. (1998), S. H. Juet al. (2004), Y.I. Maggiet
al. (2005) and M.R. Mohamadi-Shoorehet al. (2008), to
evaluate the moment-rotation relation for bolted end-plate
beamconnection.
M. A. Dabaon et al. (2007), proposed a 3D FE model
using ANSYS software for analytical investigation of the
effect of loads in the minor direction on the behavior of
semi-rigid joint in the major direction.

Y.Shi et al. (1996), developed a new nominal model to

evaluate the M relation for stiffened and extended steel
beamcolumn end-plate connections. Based on a
specific definition of the end-plate connection rotation the
end-plate connection is decomposed into several
components, including the panel zone, bolt, end-plate
and column flange.
E. Mashalyet al. (2011), conducted a parametric analysis
to investigate the effect of both the material and
geometric properties of four-bolt extended end-plate
connections upon their behavior when subjected to lateral
loading. The parametric study taking into account 12
parameters which was expected to affecting the behavior
of studied connection.
3D FE model results were compared with experimental
results by C. Dazet al. (2011), P. Prabhaet al. (Provide
Year), J. A. Swanson et al. (2002) and A. R. Kukretiet al.
(2006)].
Different test setup covered a large number of
connections were carried out by K.C. Tasiet al. [(1995), J.
A. Swanson et al. (2000),T. Kim et al. (2009), M. A.
Dabaonet al. (2007), A. M. Giro Coelhoet al. (2007), A.
M. Giro Coelhoet al. (2004) and G. Shiet al. (2010) to
investigate their behavior under cyclic and monotonic
load,the
influences
of
each
parameter
on
connection'sbehavior such as rotational stiffness,
moment resistance, failure mode and ductilityand
develop a large data base to calibrate suitable simplified
models for designing.
The first objective of this paper after revising the previous
researches was to develop 3D FE model including bolt
pretension force, initial imperfection, local buckling and
modeling of contact between different surfaces compared
with test results. Also from the studied researches it was
observed a lack of sufficient information in the effect of
stiffeners by different geometrical dimensions on the
connections behavior. So the second object was to use
the developed FE model to carry out an extensive
parametric study to investigate the effect of different
parameters on end-plate connection behavior.
Formulation of 3D finite element model
The aim of this study is to develop a 3D FE model
simulating stiffened an unstiffened end-plate connection.
Modeling semi-rigid connections helps to predict the
actual behavior of connections under monotonic loading
and to study the characteristic of the connections, as well
as the factors affecting their behavior.
Geometry of the connections
The general purpose 3D finite element program ABAQUS

Rafaat et al., 057

Table 1Details of investigated end-plate connections

Specimen
number

Connection
type

Bolt
diameter
(mm)
20

Number of
bolts

Flush

End-plate
thickness
(mm)
20

SC01

Column
stiffener

SC02

Extended

20

20

Yes

Yes

SC03

Extended

20

20

Yes

No

SC04

Extended

20

20

No

Yes

SC05

Extended

25

20

Yes

Yes

SC06

Extended

20

24

Yes

Yes

SC07

Extended

25

24

Yes

Yes

SC08

Extended

16

20

Yes

Yes

Yes

End-plate
stiffener
No

Table 2. Sectional dimension of beam and column (unit:mm)

Beam
Column

Section
depth
300
300

Web
thickness
8
8

Flange
width
200
250

Flange
thickness
12
12

Figure 2. Details of the connection (Dim. in mm)

was used to simulate the behavior of end-plate
connections under monotonic load. In order to illustrate
the behavior of these connections, a cruciform end-plate
steel connection, tested experimentally by G. Shi et al.
(2010), was selected.All details of these eight specimens
are shown in Table [1] and (Fig. 2).All specimen beams
and columns have the same dimensions respectively as
listed in Table [2].

Finite element model

All connected members including the beam, column,
plates, and bolts were modeled using the element
C3D8R the continuum three dimensional eight-nodded
brick element with reduced order integration. It is worth
noting that with reduced integration the number of
elements through the width plays a critical role. A set of

058 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Eng. Technol. Innov.

Table 3. Material properties

Material
Steel
(t16mm)
Steel
(t>16mm)
Bolts (M20)
Bolts (M24)

Measured Yield
Stress (MPa)
391

Measured Tensile
Strength (MPa)
559

Measured Elastic
Modulus (MPa)
190707

Measured Bolt average

Pretension Force (kN)
-

363

573

204228

995
975

1160
1188

204228
204288

185
251

(a) Contact between the end-plate (b) Tie constraint between the
and column flange
bolt head/nut to the beam/column
Figure 1 Contacts in end-plate connection

six elements across the end-plate thickness and four

elements across the column flange was usedat
connecting region todetermine precisely the rotation of
the element because it has no rotational degree of
freedom. The structural steel components such as steel
beam, steel column and bolt are modeled as an elastic
plastic material in both tension and compression. Yield
and ultimate tensile strength of the steel beam is
obtained firstly from the test results of the Gang Shi, et al.
as illustrated in table [3]. For the elastic part of the
stressstrain curve, which used in Eigenvalue
analysis,the value of the Youngs modulus (E) and the
Poissons ratio of0.3 were used in finite element model.
For the plastic part the material properties were obtained
from the experimental work that was used to determine
the nominal stress and strain by using the proposed
equation by N. Gattesco, and thentranslated to the form
of true stress and strain to be an appropriate format for
ABAQUS.
s= fsy + Esh (s sh) . 1

Where:
s and s are the measured nominal stress and strain
values, respectively.
sy yield strain
sh strain hardening
sufailure strain

Modeling the contact between the different model parts is

one of the most critical processes. If contact is improperly
modeled, results of the analysis will not reflect the real life
behavior of the connection definitely.In the case of the
contact between the end-plate and column flanges,two
relevant properties were considered: Tangential and
normal
behavior
of
the
contact
surface
interactionconsidering small sliding surface-to-surface
contact. Tangential behavior was defined as a frictional
coefficient
of
0.3
using
penalty
stiffness
formulationNormal behavior was defined as hard. This
property assumes that constraints related to contact can
only occur, when the surfaces are touching no sticking
between the contact surfaces. Hard ''Tie'' constraint is
used for the connection of bolt head/nut to the
beam/column as shown in (Fig. 3).
Finite element analysis for connection requires two types
of analyses. The first one is the linear analysisthat known
as Eigenvalue analysis,that estimates the first buckling
mode and simulates the initial imperfection of the
structure members, Also to confirm the validity of the
boundary conditions, ensure the accuracy of the mesh
size, and to examine the general whole model. The
second one is the nonlinear analysis which is carried out
in two steps.
The boundary conditions of the model vary with each of
the analysis steps to simulate the ones existing in tests,

Rafaat et al., 059

and to describe them for each step in the following
according to the test setup. As shown in (Fig. 4).

experimental results generated by G. Shi et al.[32] in

terms of load-displacement characteristics, momentrotation characteristics and failure modes of the
connections.The force at the loading point shown in (Fig.
6)was identified and its peak value was taken as the
loading capacity of each of the connection specimens.
The joint moment was taken as the product of the load
and its lever arm of 1200 mm (which is the distance from
the loading point to the column flange, as shown in (Fig.
6). Table 4 presents comparisons of the moment
resistance, rotation capacities, and initial stiffness of all of
these connections.

Figure 4 Boundary conditions of the connection

Meshing is one of the most important issues in modeling
since the accuracy of the results largely depends on
it.Different mesh sizes have been examined as well to
determine a reasonable mesh that provides accurate
results and less computational time. The optional solution
is to use a fine mesh in regions of high stress and
coarser mesh in the remaining regions. As shown in
(Fig.5).

Figure 3 Typical connection model (Dim. in mm)

Figure 2 Mesh of steel connection

Validation of themodel
Validation of the presented model was tested by the
comparison between the numerical results and the

The connection rotation is defined as the relative rotation

of the centerlines of the top and bottom flanges at the
beam end. It usually consists of two parts: the shearing
rotation s, contributed by the panel zone of the column,
and the gap rotation ep, caused by the relative
deformation between the end plate and the column
flange, including the bending. A good correlation of M
curves obtained from the ABAQUS model to that
obtained from the tests for extended end-plate
connection is shown in(Fig. 7).

060 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Eng. Technol. Innov.

Rafaat et al., 061

Table 2 Comparison of moment capcityies and initial stiffness between FEA nad tests.
Specimen Number
SC01
SC02
SC03
SC04
SC05
SC06
SC07
SC08

Test
[kN.m]
186.4
343.7
308.3
307.9
322.1
390.3
410.8
355.4

SC01

FEM.M
[kN.m]
205.40
343.8
290.0
283.2
382.9
391.9
375.0
343.2

Test

Test Sj.ini /
[kN.m/rad]
23544
52276
49093
51535
46094
46066
47469
41634

FEM Sj.ini
/[kN.m/rad]
20008
51253
45503
47352
46090
46061
47462
38819

FEM

A) Failure due to bolt fracture

SC02

Test

FEM

B) Failure due to bolt fracture

SC03

Test

FEM

C) Failure due to bolt fracture

SC04

Test

FEM

D) Failure due to bolt fracture and buckling of column web

Rot. capacity
(rad) Test
.043
.07
.067
.05
.043
.108
.073
.101

Rot.
Cap.
(rad) FEM.
.058
.063
.0522
.085
.067
.096
.052
.093

062 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Eng. Technol. Innov.

SC05

Test

FEM

E) Failure due to bolt fracture

SC06

Test

FEM

F) Failure due to beam flange buckling

SC07

Test

FEM

G) Failure due to beam flange buckling

SC08

Test

FEM

H) Failure due to beam flange buckling and bolt fracture

Figure 8. Comparison of ultimate failure modes for all connection specimens

The correlation between experimental and FE predicted
curves match better in the starting parts than in the
ending part except SC07, the correlation is betterfor
connections with a column stiffener than those with a
flexible column as it is in SC04. For most of the end-plate
connections with bolt pretensions, the agreement
between the FEA and test results in
the nonlinear range of response is very close and only
minor discrepancies.These discrepancies are due to
number of factors including initial imperfection,

approximation in material properties and inaccurate

modeling of bolt pretension force.
Comparisons of the ultimate failure modes from the FEA
and test results for connections specimens from SC01 to
SC08 are shown in(Fig. 8).These figures also show the
detailed deformations of the end-plate, the column flange
and the endplate stiffener.
Failure of the connection was defined as a numerical
converges in the nonlinear range, as it identifies some
model instability. This nonlinear convergence depends on

Rafaat et al., 063

Table 5. show the different parameters selected for FE analysis
Variable
End-plate thickness
Bolt diameter
Column stiffener height ratio
Rib stiff. angle with end-plate

Range of variable selected

tep = 16 mm
tep = 20 mm
dbolt = 20 mm
dbolt = 24 mm
hstiff = 0.75(ht-2tf)
hstiff = ht-2tf

= 30
= 45

tep = 25 mm
dbolt = 27 mm
hstiff = 0. 5(ht-2tf)
= 60

No col. Stiff.
No rib. Stiff.

Figure 9. Shows the variable parameters of the connection

several variables, especially when contact elements are

being used.A matter of fact it does not always indicate
the actual failure point. Therefore, simple inspection
procedures can be used to identify the criteria caused
failure and ultimate state of the connection. The first
criterion is to monitor the stress and strain states in the
bolts. The second criteria is to control the deflection of
connected beam which should
d not exceed 20 times the
allowable value of deflection, to emphasizes that
sufficient rotation capacity exists in order to develop the
plastic collapse mechanism as the plastic theory of partial
strength connection design recommends,so that a plastic
hinge
e tends to be formed in the connection. The third
criterion is to observe the beam flange local buckling by
exhibiting the contour of plastic strain with magnification
value equal one.

plateconnections. Basing on
ranges of extended end-plateconnections.
common practical details, table [7] and (Fig.9)show the
different parameters selected for FE analysis. Only one
variable was changed at one group so asto assess its
effect clearly.
early. They are considered to be the most
influential factors for the connections.
About 144 models were developed and 288 were
solved to get an amount of data to present an accurate
behavior of the connection. So the comprehensive
information on the initial stiffness offend-plate
offend
connection
as well as the initial deformation of connection
components such as tension bolts elongation and endend
plate-bending
bending deformation for each case is obtained.
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
Effect of bolt diameter

Selection of variable parameters for parametric

arametric study
Connection is mainly composed of two zones. The first
zone is the panel zone, in which moment
moment-rotation
behavior doesn't depend on the connection component.
The second zone is the connection, in which moment
momentrotation behavior depends on the connecting eleme
elements
such as endplate, bolts, column flange, stiffeners, by EC3
and F. Teschmmerning. To conduct the parametric study,
the determination of the range of input variables is very
important. Soin this study, it was decided to vary the
geometric variables within
n the comprehensive practical

In order to investigate the effect of different bolt diameter

in G a-1, a-2 and a- 3 models have been developed with
different bolt diameter 20 mm, 24 mm, and 27mm and the
sameconnection dimensions.As
As shown in the (Fig.10)the
connection of bolt diameter 20mm, achieved the lowest
moment capacity. The failure mode is bolt fracturefor bolt
diameter 20 mm due to yielding of the bolt, which caused
the brittle failure of the connections and caused loss of
resistance in bending. Itt is also shown that the bolt
diameter has influence in the initial rotation stiffness of
the connections. As bolt diameter increased to 24mm, the

064 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Eng. Technol. Innov.

Figure 10. Variation of M- curve with different bolt

diameter

a) Effect on ultimate moment

b) Effect on rotation capacity

Figure 11. Effect of bolt diameter on ultimate moment and rotation capacity

Figure 12. Variation of M- curve for different end-plate thickness

yield and ultimate moment is larger than of 20mm bolt

diameter by 4 % and 8%respectively.On the
contrarythere are no changes on the rotation capacity.
Little differences noticed for end-plate thickness 16mm
and different bolt diameters while with end-plate

thickness 20mm increasing the bolt diameter from 20mm

to 24mm increase the ultimate moment by 12% and
rotation capacity by 32%. Also increasing bolt diameter
from 24mm to 27mm with end-plate thickness 20mm
increase ultimate moment by 14%

Rafaat et al., 065

a) Effect on ultimate moment

b) Effect on rotation capacity

Figure 13. Show the effect of end-plate thickness on ultimate moment and rotation capacity

Figure 14. Variation of M- curve for different length of column

stiffener

and rotation capacity by52%.

Effect of end-plate thickness
Three endplate thicknesses 16 mm, 20 mm and 25 mm
were modeled respectively. The compared result was
shown in (Fig. 12).It can be observed that when the
endplate thickness was 16 mm, low moment resistance
was noticed, while large rotation capacity was achieved.
It is also shown that the thickness of the endplate has
obvious influence on the rotation stiffness. As the
thickness increased from 16 mm to 20 mm, the initial

stiffness increased, on the contrary small difference was

observed between the momentrotation curves for
endplate thicknesses 20 mm and 25 mm.
Increasing thickness of the end-plate allows more tensile
forcein the bolts which increases the moment capacity,
but theincrease is not very significant and will cause
brittle failureof the bolts with low rotation capacity of the
connection. Itis suggested that for the endplate in
bending, it is necessaryto limit the thickness of the
endplate in order to avoid brittlefailure of the bolts and to
obtain ductile connections by yielding the endplate in
bending. And the end-plate should also havea certain
thickness to avoid the brittle failure of the end-plateitself.

066 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Eng. Technol. Innov.

Figure 15. Variation of M- curves for different connection type

A. Mode of failure of A-1-10, dbolt = 20mm, tep = 16mm & no end-pl. Stiff.

B. Mode of failure of A-1-22, dbolt= 20mm, tep = 16mm &stiff =30 .

C. Mode of failure of A-1-34, dbolt= 20mm, tep = 16mm &stiff =45 .

D. Mode of failure of A-1-46, dbolt= 20mm, tep = 16mm &stiff =60 .

Figure 16. Mode of failures for connections with different

angles of end-plate rib stiffener
Effect of column tension stiffener
To study the effect of column tension stiffener on
behavior of the connection, four ratios for column tension

stiffener height "no col. stiffener, hstiff = .5(ht-2tf), hstiff=

0.75(ht 2tf) and hstiff = ht-2tf " were modeled. We can
observe that using column stiffener increases the ultimate
moment and rotation capacity by small values within the

Rafaat et al., 067

a) Effect on ultimate moment

b) Effect on rotation capacity

Figure 17. Effect of end-plate stiffener on ultimate moment and rotation capacity

limits of 3% as shown if (Fig. 14). Also it can be noticed

that the stiffened column web provide better stiffness for
the connection. Since connection has no column
stiffener, its column flange in tension zone bends easily
about the intersection of column web and flange.
Presence of panel zone tension stiffeners minimizes the
deformation in the panel zone of the connection, although
it has no significant effect on ultimate moment and
rotation capacity. For end-plate connections, their rotation
consists of shearing deformation of the panel zone, and
gab rotation of end-plate. This result also indicates that
panel zone deformation is more important source of endplate connection rotation for unstiffened panel zone than
that for stiffened one. Just this panel zone shearing
deformation alone can cause the end-plate connection to
be a semi-rigid one.
Effect of end-plate rib stiffener and its angle.
The influence of the extended end-plate on the behavior
of the end-plate connection can be analyzed using
(Fig.15). Type [1] "flush end-plate" is a reference
connection, and the other connections differ from type [1]
in two parameter, extended end-plate and end-plate
stiffener "rib stiffener" angle. Compared with flush endplate the moment resistance and initial stiffness of
extended end-plate connection is seen to be significant
higher and this indicates that the end-plate and its
stiffener make a contribution to behavior of end-plate
connection. In addition, the ultimate moment increased
by 40% by using extended end-plate instead of flushes
one. Also using end-plate stiffener increases the ultimate
moment by 10% and improves the rotation capacity and
initial rotation stiffness. Another observation made from
the results revealed that the increase of rib stiffener angle
with end-plate from 30 to 45 causing increasing the

ultimate moment by 5% ~ 8% and from 45 to 60 by 5%

~ 10%.
Furthermore we can notice that the rotation of flush endplate connection is mainly contributed by the relative
deformation between the end-plate and the column
flange. On the contrary for the extended end-plate
connections its rotation comes from the shearing
deformation of the panel zone as illustrated in (Fig.16)
Also we can observe that the gap between the end-plate
and the column flange affected by the rib stiffener angle,
as a result of increasing the rib stiffener angle the gab
deformation is decreased. Those because the increasing
of rib stiffener dimension increase the stiffness of the
extension of end-plate and does not allow the prying
force to be considered appropriately. In addition, delaying
the position of plastic moment and increasing the ultimate
moment.
The rib stiffener has remarkable influence on the
behavior of the extended end-plate connection and the
previous results showed that:

The stiffened connections have higher ultimate

moment because the stiffeners can change the
mechanism of load transition and ameliorate the
restriction condition.

When the stiffeners have large angle with end

plate stiff, stiffeners can also prevent the brittle failure of
connections.
CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this study is to describe the development
of finite element models, establish a legitimate
methodology for finite element analysis of end-plate
connections subjected to monotonic loading in different
types and details, and to investigate the effect of each
parameter on connection behavior. From this

068 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Eng. Technol. Innov.

investigation and the comprehensive numerical results,

the following findings are summarized:
1.
The Finite Element Method is a reliable tool for
investigating the effect of all relevant parameters. Also it
can provide acceptable and accurate results. The finite
element Method provides an attractive mean for
investigating the end-plate connections in more detail
than the experimental tests would provide.
2.
A three-dimensional finite element model was
developed using the ABAQUS to simulate end-plate
connection including column and beam sides.A
C3D8Relement has beenchosen for the simulation of all
the components in the model.A mesh generator is
developed to generate meshes desired mesh density in
order to obtain accurate results.
3.
The pretension force in the bolt and the contact
between theend-plate and the column, which have
proven to be difficult toinclude in finite element analyses,
are simulated well with thepresent modeling.
4.
The finite element modeling can accurately
andefficiently simulate and analyze the overall behaviorof
connections of this type, including the load capacity, the
moment-rotation relation and the mode of failure.
5.
Increasing the bolt diameter from 20 mm to 24
mm with end-plate thickness of 16 mm increased the
ultimate moment by about 10% and changed the failure
mode from brittle failure to ductile failure, although it has
no effect on rotation capacity. Also increasing the bolt
diameter from 24 mm to 27 mm and 16 mm end-plate
thickness has a very small effect on ultimate moment by
about 3% that because increasing bolt size to certain
value makes the thin plate yield first and deformed faster
than bolt shank.
6.
Increasing bolt diameter with moderate end-plate
thickness increases the ultimate moment by 15% and
rotation capacity by 50%. It was concluded that a little
differences obviously observed with end-plate thickness
16mm, while significant differences noticed with end-plate
thickness of 20 mm and of 25 mm.
7.
Increasing the end-plate thickness increases the
initial rotation stiffness but decreases the rotational
capacity and leads to more stiff connection. Also in case
of increasing the end-plate thickness from 16 mm to
20mm the ultimate moment increases by 6%, while
increasing the thickness from 20 mm to 25 mm increase
the ultimate moment by about 15%.
8.
Presence of column continuity stiffeners
increases the ultimate moment by small values and
decreases the rotation capacity because these stiffeners
minimize the deformation in the panel zone of
theconnection.
9.
The stiffened connections have higher load
carrying and initial rotation stiffness, because the
stiffeners can change the mechanism of load
transmission and ameliorate the restricted conditions. It
may increases the ultimate moment by about 40% and

initial rotational stiffness by about 50% more than flush

one.
10.
Rib stiffener angle may increase the ultimate
moment by about 10% to 20%. Also prevents a brittle
failure.
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Yongjiu SGS, Yuanqing W (2007). Experimental and theoretical
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