Experimental and Numerical Assessment of Reduced IPE Beam Sections Connections with Box-Stiffener

Reduced Beam Section (RBS) is a new type of connection in steel moment resistant frames that was introduced after the Northridge earthquake of 1994. The application of RBS connections associated with reduced beam flange width can aid in accelerating web, flange, and lateral-torsional bucklings in the beam. To fix this problem, a new type of stiffener called the box-stiffener was presented in this study, which exactly encases the reduced portion of the beam. First, 4 laboratory tests were performed on RBS connections made of IPE140 and IPE270 sections in the two conditions of ‘with’ and ‘without’ a boxstiffener. Laboratory results showed that the stiffener considerably enhanced the connection ductility without a significant increase in the connection’s resistance. To examine other sizes of IPE sections, a verified Finite Element model was utilized. The results of the numerical models also confirmed the suitable performance of the box-stiffener.