General Issues Influencing Connection Performance

Welded-flange--bolted-web connections were damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The SAC Steel Project was founded to address the problems associated with this damage. The Connection Performance Team completed research on the behavior of a number of connection types. During this research, some issues were found to influence the behavior of many different connection types. This paper summarizes these general issues and describes their impact on connection performance. These general issues include: process and toughness, web attachment, panel zone yielding, beam depth and frame geometry, yield stress of the steel, geometry and column orientation, effect of composite slabs, local slenderness and unsupported length, and temperature and strain rate.