Investigation of semi-rigid bolted beam connections on prefabricated frame joints

Bolted connections are used commonly in the precast reinforced concrete structures. In suchstructures, to perform structural analysis, behaviour of connections must be determined. In this study,elastic rotation stiffness of semi-rigid bolted beam connections, applied in industrial precast structures, aredetermined by finite element methods. The results obtained from numerical solutions are compared withan experimental study carried out for the same connections. Furthermore, stress distributions of theconnection zone are determined and a reinforcement scheme is proposed. Thus, a more appropriatereinforcement arrangement for the connection zone is enabled. The connection joint of the prefabricatedframe is described as rigid, hinged or elastic, and a static analysis of the frame system is performed foreach case. Values of bending moments and displacements obtained from the three solutions are comparedand the effects of elastic connection are discussed.