Experimental investigation of bolted stiffened end-plate and bolted flange-plate connections

This paper describes the experimental performance of the bolted stiffened end-plate (BSEP) and bolted flange-plate (BFP) connections using European hot-rolled profiles and built-up profiles. Four connections are designed and constructed according to FEMA-350 and are performed under cyclic loading. The influence of using different member profiles (European profiles and built-up profiles) in both the BSEP and BFP connections are examined. The obtained test results, including failure modes, hysteretic curves, ultimate moment and rotation values and panel zone extensions were reported and the performance of different connections is compared. It was found out, based on the obtained test results, that using hot-rolled or builtup profiles in the connection does not affect its global behavior.