A simplified steel beam-to-column connection modelling approach and influence of connection ductility on frame behaviour in fire

A simplified spring connection modelling approach for steel flush endplate beam-to-column connections in fire has been developed to enable realistic behaviour of connections to be incorporated into full-scale frame analyses at elevated temperature. Due to its simplicity and reliability, the proposed approach permits full-scale high-temperature frame analysis to be conducted without high computational cost. The proposed simplified spring connection modelling approach has been used to investigate the influence of connection ductility (both axial and rotational) on frame behaviour in fire. 2D steel and 3D composite frames with a range of beam spans were modelled to aid the understanding of the differences in frame response in fire where the beamto- column connections have different axial and rotational ductility assumptions. The modelling results highlight that adopting the conventional rigid or pinned connection assumptions does not permit the axial forces acting on the connections to be accurately predicted, since the axial ductility of the connection is completely neglected when the rotational ductility is either fully restrained or free. By accounting for realistic axial and rotational ductilities of beam-to-column connections, the frame response in fire can be predicted more accurately, which is advantageous in performance-based structural fire engineering design.