Design of single plate framing connections

Abstract

The single plate framing connection is one of the simplest and most economical beam to column or beam to girder connections. The connection is comprised of a single plate, with either prepunched or predrilled bolt holes that is shop welded to the supporting element. During erection, the beam with prepunched holes is brought into position and field bolted to the framing plate. The behavior of such a connection is rather complex, and involves the specification of numerous parameters for its design. Different procedures regarding the behavior and design of this connection have been suggested by different researchers, which give different values of the design parameters. In order to arrive at a common and rational procedure to characterize the behavior and design of this connection, full scale beam tests on 2-, 4- and 6-bolt connections have been conducted in this study. The beam tests were further supplemented by a series of single bolt lap tests followed by tensile coupon tests to investigate the effect of certain key parameters on the connection ductility. The test results are used to characterize the actual behavior of single plate framing connections. This is followed by the development of a design procedure for such a connection.