Characterisation of new components of unequal-width welded I-beam–RHS-column connections

A study of two new components of welded I-beam–RHS-column connections with a beam-column width ratio lower than one is presented in this paper. In these connections, the usual failure mode is by yielding of the front faces (high indentation) due to the bending caused by tensile and compressive forces coming from the beam flanges. To this extent, twelve connections were tested to characterise the tube front face component (FFC) under tension and compression. Additionally, two connections with asymmetrical load were tested to characterise the tube lateral face component (LFC) under shearing. After the experimental campaign, finite element models were developed and calibrated to reproduce the experimental results accurately. Ultimately, the outcomes from the experiments and computational models provided sufficient information to suggest novel analytical equations for both components, thereby facilitating their analytical characterisation. •Characterisation of the front face component (FFC) of unequal-width I-beam–RHS-column joint.•Characterisation of the lateral face component (LFC) under shearing.•Experiments and FEM models to accurately verify the behaviour of both components.•Analytical formulation for FFC and LFC components.