Abstract With the advances in computational analysis techniques and development of new design methods, new interests have arisen in structural engineering. In the last few years, with the increasing numbers of terrorist attacks, the study of robustness, progressive structural collapse and ultimate resistance of structures has grown exponentially, with various studies being published all over the world. In order to perform this study through computational analysis, it was necessary to develop a calibrated numerical model capable of representing the behaviour of structures in their final stage of resistance. This article presents an evaluation of semi-rigid connections through a numerical model considering the implementation of collapse and damage progression criteria calibrated against experimental tests. Afterwards, a parametric study was developed by varying the bolt diameters and endplate thickness of a flush endplate semi-rigid connection. The main parameters and criteria that rules the simulation of flush end-plate joints subject to damage were assessed, allowing that many different kind of studies with similar components could be performed, such as impact, explosion and column loss analysis. As an outcome, the bending moment-rotation curves of these connections are presented and it is shown that those with a larger bolt diameter were able to produce greater rotation, while an increase in the endplate thickness was able to provide a greater bending moment capacity.

Abstract The use of rolled hollow sections has been substantially boosted mainly due to the advantages associated with structural behavior and aesthetics, leading to an intense use in Europe, Southeast Asia, North America, Australia, and now, in Brazil due to the wider supply of these profiles. Therefore, it is important to investigate the structural behavior in order to provide an adequate structural design for the civil engineering community. Thus, this paper presents a parametric analysis of a reinforced T-joint focused on NBR 16239 provisions. Two types of reinforcement plates: Collar and Double were investigated. A wide set of numerical models has been defined varying the thickness of the reinforcing plate, chord and brace members and axial loads applied in the brace. The numerical models have been developed using ANSYS 12.0 software considering both geometrical and material non-linearity. Concerning the results, there was a slight gain of resistance when a double plate reinforcement was used, mainly for small displacement, due to large stiffness provided and a linear response up to the serviceability limit. In addition, Von Mises stress distribution confirmed the type A failure with chord yielding beginning at the upper chord surface. Comparing the numerical results with NBR 16239 provisions, an excessive conservatism was noted for this code. In fact, the Brazilian code only takes into account the reinforcement thickness in joint resistance. However, when the results provided by the new proposal where both thicknesses (chord and reinforcement) are considered, a more realistic assessment of the joint capacity is obtained.

Abstract The widespread use of tubular sections in regions like Western Europe and North America in addition structural and aesthetical reasons can be attributed to the high degree of development of their production technology. Despite this fact their use in Brazil in the past was limited to a few spatial roofs. Currently, the situation in the Brazilian market begins to change caused by the significant increase in the availability of structural hollow sections. This work presents an analysis of "KK" joints with circular hollow sections. A comparison between the analytical design formulations proposed by the Eurocode 3 Part 1.8, the 2nd edition of the CIDECT tubular joint design guide was performed. A finite element model was developed in the ANSYS program for each analysed joint typology. The modelling of a spatial truss made of circular hollow section elements was also performed to enable a comparison between a single joint and the response of the joint as a part of a full scale truss structure.

As normas atuais de projeto de estruturas em aço inoxidável, como o Eurocódigo 3, parte 1.4 (2006), são, em grande parte, baseadas em analogias assumidas com o comportamento de estruturas desenvolvidas com aço carbono. A ruptura da seção transversal representa um dos estados-limites últimos usualmente verificados para elementos estruturais submetidos a tensões normais de tração. Esse artigo apresenta uma investigação para se avaliar a resistência à tração de elementos aparafusados em aço carbono e aço inoxidável. Os resultados são discutidos e comparados em termos de distribuição de tensões, curvas carga-deslocamento, entre outros. Esses resultados foram comparados com as recomendações de projeto do Eurocódigo 3, para aço carbono e aço inoxidável, respectivamente. Essa investigação indicou que, quando o aço inoxidável é utilizado em certas aplicações da engenharia estrutural, como ligações submetidas a esforços de tração, o critério atual de dimensionamento, baseado em deformações-limites precisa de ser reavaliado, especialmente devido às diferenças elevadas de tensões de escoamento e de ruptura, respectivamente.

Current stainless steel design codes, like the Eurocode 3, part 1.4, (2006), are still largely based on analogies with carbon steel structural behavior. The net section rupture represents one of the ultimate limit states usually verified for structural elements submitted to normal tension stress. An investigation aiming to evaluate the tension capacity of carbon and stainless steel bolted structural elements was performed and in this article, the results are discussed and compared in terms of stress distribution, and force-displacement curves, among others. The result assessment was done by comparisons to the Eurocode 3 (2003) provisions for carbon and stainless steels. The investigation indicated that when stainless steel is used in certain structural engineering applications like joints under tension forces, the current design criteria based on deformation limits need to be re-evaluated, especially due to the differences in the yields for ultimate deformation and stress ratios.

Competitive world market trends have long been forcing structural engineers to develop minimum weight and labour cost solutions. A direct consequence of this design philosophy is a considerable increase in problems related to unwanted floor vibrations. This phenomenon is very frequent in a wide range of structures subjected to dynamical loads. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate an orthotropic solution for composite floors subjected to dynamical actions such as rhythmical activities arising from gymnastics, musical and sports events and ballroom dances. The proposed analysis methodology considers the investigation of the dynamic behaviour of a building floor made with a composite slab system with steel beams and an incorporated steel deck. The results indicated that the investigated composite floor violates the vibration serviceability limit state, but satisfied the human comfort criteria.

Sistemas mistos aço-concreto têm sido largamente utilizados na construção civil e vêm motivando o desenvolvimento de sistemas de lajes de piso com forma de aço incorporado, usando-se perfis formados a frio com corrugações na alma. O sistema aqui investigado baseou-se em protótipos de fôrmas metálicas, usando várias formas de ligação na interface aço/concreto. Para desenvolver um novo perfil metálico, que apresentasse uma boa aderência mecânica entre o concreto e o aço e com comportamento dúctil, avaliou-se uma seção transversal ideal. Diversas variáveis foram consideradas, tais como: peso, altura, espessura e tensão de escoamento. A investigação, também, contemplou ensaios em escala real de forma a validar, experimentalmente, o sistema de laje mista (aço-concreto) proposto.

The composite steel-concrete system has been used in various major projects motivating the development of an efficient composite floor system using cold-formed steel sections with web corrugations. The system was based on previous investigations that involved the development of steel deck prototypes using various types of interlocking mechanisms in the concrete to steel deck interface. An ideal section evaluation was made to determine an efficient steel profile that presented a good mechanical adherence to the concrete interface while keeping a ductile behavior. Variables like weight, height, thickness and yield stress amongst others were investigated. An experimental program consisting of a full-scale composite slab test was executed to validate the proposed composite cold-formed system.

The usual structural analysis models for telecommunication and transmission steel tower design tend to assume a simple truss behaviour where all the steel connections are considered hinged. Despite this fact, the most commonly used tower geometries possess structural mechanisms that could compromise the assumed structural behaviour. A possible explanation for the structure stability is related to the connections semi-rigid response instead of the initially assumed pinned behaviour. This paper proposes an alternative structural analysis modelling strategy for guyed steel towers design, considering all the actual structural forces and moments, by using three-dimensional beam and truss finite elements. Comparisons of the above mentioned design models with a third alternative, that models the main structure and the bracing system with 3D beam finite elements, are made for three existing guyed steel telecommunication towers (50m, 70m and 90m high). The comparisons are initially based on the towers static and dynamic structural behaviour later to be followed by a linear buckling analysis to determine the influence of the various modelling strategies on the tower stability behaviour.

A crescente competitividade do mercado da engenharia civil tem induzido projetistas de estruturas a desenvolverem sistemas estruturais compostos por peças mais leves e com menor custo final. A conseqüência direta dessa filosofia de projeto foi o aumento considerável dos problemas de vibrações em pisos. Assim sendo, o principal objetivo desse trabalho é o de desenvolver uma metodologia de análise para avaliação do conforto humano em pisos de edificações, com base em modelos de carregamento representativos do caminhar das pessoas. Os modelos estruturais foram compostos por pisos mistos com vão variando de 5,0m a 10,0m. Um estudo paramétrico extenso foi desenvolvido e os resultados, com base nos valores das acelerações de pico, foram comparados com valores-limites propostos por diversos autores e normas de projeto. Os resultados encontrados indicaram que a ação do caminhar das pessoas pode vir a gerar níveis elevados de vibração sobre os pisos, não satisfazendo os critérios de conforto humano.

The competitive trends of the civil engineering market have long been forcing structural engineers to develop minimum weight and labor cost solutions. A direct consequence of this new design trend is a considerable increase in floor vibration problems. The main objective of this paper is to present an analysis methodology to evaluate the composite floor's human comfort criteria, considering a more realistic loading model incorporating the dynamic effects induced by people walking. The investigated models were based on floors, with main spans varying from 5m to 10m. Based on an extensive parametric study the composite floors dynamic response was obtained and compared to limiting values proposed by several authors and design standards. The results of the present study indicated that the walking loads could induce the composite floors to reach significant vibration levels implying and violating the human comfort criteria.