Semi-rigid steel frames are revolutionizing structural design. This book is a practical professional reference, covering analytical methods for the evaluation of connection flexibility and its influence on the stability of the entire framework. The methods range from a simplified member-by-member design approach to a more sophisticated computer-based advanced analysis and design approach.

This book summarizes the recent progress in practical analysis for semi-rigid frame design in North America. This encompasses codes, databases, modeling, classification, analysis/design, and design tables and aids. Practical design methods include LRFD procedures, approximate procedures, computer-based procedures and the optimization process. The book can be used as a supplementary steel design textbook for graduate students, as a training book for a short course in steel design for practicing engineers, and as a reference book for consulting firms designing building structures.

Stability Design of Steel Frames provides a summary of the behavior, analysis and design of structural steel members and frames with flexibly-jointed connections. The book presents the theory and design of structural stability and includes extensions of computer-based analyses for individual members in space with imperfections. It also shows how connection flexibility influences the behavior and design of steel frames and how designers must consider this in a limit-state analysis and design procedure. The clearly written text and extensive bibliography make this a practical book for advanced students, researchers and professionals in civil and structural engineering, as well as a useful supplement to traditional books on the theory and design of structural stability.

A practical and accessible introduction to the implementation of partially restrained connections in engineering practice.

This book provides simplified and refined procedures applicable to design and to accessing design limitations and offers guidance to design specifications, codes and standards currently applied to the stability of metal structures.

These two volumes of proceedings contain 11 invited keynote papers and 172 contributed papers presented at the International Conference on Advances in Steel Structures held on 11-14 December 1996 in Hong Kong. The papers cover a wide spectrum of topics and have been contributed from over 20 countries around the world. The conference, the first ever of its kind in Hong Kong, provided a forum for discussion and dissemination by researchers and designers of recent advances in the analysis, behaviour, design and construction of steel structures.The papers in the proceedings report the current state-of-the-art and point to the future directions of structural steel research. Volume I contains 93 papers on the analysis, behaviour, design and construction of framed structures and bridges, with 90 papers in Volume II dealing with plates, shells, analysis, optimization and computer applications, dynamics and seismic design, fatigue, and soil-structure interaction.

Dr Wai-Fah Chen — a Chinese-born American academic and widely recognized structural engineering specialist in the field of mechanics, materials, and computing — has certainly led a fascinating life. A well-respected leader in the field of plasticity, structural stability, and structural steel design over the past half-century, he has made major contributions to introduce the mathematical theory of plasticity to civil engineering practice, especially in the application of limit analysis methods to the geotechnical engineering field. Having headed the engineering departments at the University of Hawaii and Purdue University, Chen is a widely cited author and the recipient of several national engineering awards, including the 1990 Shortridge Hardesty Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers and the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Steel Construction.This book traces the life journey and reflections of Dr Chen. It presents a remarkable opportunity to understand his personal history and cultural passions: his struggle to achieve the American dream, his life as an eyewitness to the rise of China, and his career path to establish a solid engineering reputation. Presenting his scientific achievements spanning the last 40 years of his career, readers will thus be privy to his personal thoughts, experiences, and perspectives on these events.

Volumes and section headings: Volume I. Keynote Papers. Beams and Columns. Frames and Trusses. Space Structures. Connections. Composite Construction. Bridges. Design and Construction. Volume II. Keynote Papers. Plates. Shells. Analysis. Optimization and Computer Applications. Dynamics and Seismic Design. Fatigue. Soil Structure Interaction.

This book is devoted to the discussion and studies of simple and efficient numerical procedures for large deflection and elasto-plastic analysis of steel frames under static and dynamic loading. In chapter 1, the basic fundamental behaviour and philosophy for design of structural steel is discussed, emphasising different modes of buckling and the inter-relationship between different types of analysis. In addition to this, different levels of refinement for non-linear analysis are described. An introduction is also given to the well-known P-&dgr; and P-&Dgr; effects. Chapter 2 presents the basic matrix method of analysis and gives several examples of linear analysis of semi-rigid pointed frames. It is evident from this that one must have a good understanding of first-order linear analysis before handling a second-order non-linear analysis. In chapter 3, the linearized bifurcation and second-order large deflection are compared and the detailed procedure for a second-order analysis based on the Newton-Raphson scheme is described. Chapter 4 introduces various solution schemes for tracing of post-buckling equilibrium paths and the Minimum Residual Displacement control method with arc-length load step control is employed for the post-buckling analysis of two and three dimensional structures. Chapter 5 addresses the non-linear behaviour and modelling of semi-rigid connections while several numerical functions for description of moment versus rotation curves of typical connection types are introduced. The scope of the work in chapter 6 covers semi-rigid connections and material yielding to the static analysis of steel frames. Chapter 7 studies the cyclic response of steel frames with semi-rigid joints and elastic material characteristics. In the last chapter the combined effects of semi-rigid connections and plastic hinges on steel frames under time-dependent loads are studied using a simple springs-in-series model. For computational effectiveness and efficiency, the concentrated plastic hinge concept is used throughout these studies.

In our world of seemingly unlimited computing, numerous analytical approaches to the estimation of stress, strain, and displacement-including analytical, numerical, physical, and analog techniques-have greatly advanced the practice of engineering. Combining theory and experimentation, computer simulation has emerged as a third path for engineering