EVALUATION OF THE SECOND-ORDER EFFECTS IN STEEL SEMI-RIGID FRAMES USING APPROXIMATE METHODS AND RIGOROUS ANALYSIS
Second-order analysis, Steel frames stability, Approximate methods of Analysis, Semi-rigid connections.
Beam-to-column connections plays a key role in the overall behavior of steel structures once they influence structural responses. Although the simplified procedures of structural analysis consider idealized connections, either fully-rigid behavior or ideally-pinned behavior, it is known that connections present an intermediate behavior between these two extreme cases, defined as semi-rigid. Therefore, in order to obtain more realistic and less conservative results of the internal forces, moments and displacements of the structure, it is important to include the effect of the connection flexibility in the simplified analyzes. Thus, the objective of this study consists in evaluating the second-order effects in multistory steel plane frames using approximate second-order analysis. Two methods of simplified analysis are addressed: The first-order amplification method (FOAM), established by NBR8800: 2008, and the simplified method, which considers the alignment chart approach to obtain the B1 and B2 amplification factors determined as a function of the effective column length factor (K-factor) considering the effect of the connection’s flexibility. These methods are compared to second-order rigorous analysis methods using the PPLANLEP software program, which is based on the finite element method and employs a consistent theoretical formulation for physical and geometrical nonlinear analysis of steel frames. The results of the methods considering semi-rigid behavior and rigid behavior are compared. Examples are presented in order to evaluate the consistency and accuracy of the results obtained by the approximate methods and to get practical conclusions that may serve as suggestions for design of steel structures.