The Effect Of Slab On Minor Axis Flush End-Plate Connections’ Initial Rotational Stiffness

At present, the research on the strong axis end plate connection is very mature, but the research on the minor axis end plate composite connection is still blank. The traditional designing method is to ignore the effect of the slab on the connection, which is regarded as a reserve safety coefficient. This method is not a right designing method. When the stiffness of the structure was wrongly estimated, the internal force of the structure calculated is wrong. Therefore, the research object of this paper is the slab’s effect on the initial rotational stiffness of the minor axis end plate connection.This paper mainly uses the method of experiment, finite element simulation and component method to analyze the slab’s effect on the initial rotation stiffness of the minor axis end plate connection.The experiment is mainly focused on initial rotational stiffness and hysteretic performance of the minor axis end plate composite connection. Considering the effect of the slab, the initial rotational stiffness of the minor axis end plate composite connection stiffness is about 4 times of that of the minor axis end plate connection.The finite element analysis results are in good agreement with the experimental results. The finite element analysis covers the stress state and stress distribution of the composite connection. Based on the finite element analysis, we can analyze different structural measures’ effect on the initial rotational stiffness of the minor axis end plate composite connection stiffness, putting forward some beneficial suggestions for designing.Comparing the force analysis and deformation analysis of the strong axis end plate connection and the minor axis end plate connection, we can conclude that the rotational center is different. Based on the above differences, we can put forward the component method of the minor axis end plate connection’s initial rotational stiffness. In view of the weak axis end plate connections I propose the rebar’s effective length of connection, which makes amendments to the component method. I put forward the component method of the minor axis end plate composite connection’s initial rotational stiffness under positive bending moment by referring to the method of the slab’s stiffness on the strong axis.