Behavior of I-beam bolted extended end-plate moment connections

Pretensioned extended, bolted end-plate moment connections are very popular due to ease of fabrication and erection. In order to identify the effect of different parameters on the behavior of the connection, a three-dimensional finite element model that accounts for both geometrical and material non-linearities is developed using the multi-purpose software package ANSYS. A parametric study is conducted using this model on two end-plate configurations: four bolts and multiple row extended end plates. The studied parameters were as follows: beam depth, end-plate thickness, bolts diameter, bolts pitch, bolts gage, and end-plate stiffener. Then, yield line analysis is used to propose equations for the end-plate bending capacity. A design model is assumed for bolt forces analysis, and design equations are proposed. The proposed equations are compared to the finite element results and the current design codes.