Seismic response of multi-storey steel buildings with flexible connections

In the limit states design of steel building frames, usually simplifying assumptions are made with regard to the behaviour of beam-to-column connections. The Canadian standard for steel buildings recognizes three such sets of assumptions. One of them is the ‘special simple construction’ in which the beam-to-column connections are assumed to be completely free (pinned) to resist gravity loads and are assumed to be ‘rigid’ to resist the lateral …