The increasingly common case of weak-axis end moments - - eliminating unnecessary joint stiffeners

工业结构通常使用结构钢设计，以利用其在复杂且通常不明确的负载条件下的多功能性，适应性和延展性。为了涵盖在结构的寿命期间由于风、设计液压事件、机器操作和潜在的未来再利用而可能出现的各种载荷情况，除了工业部门中常见的其他载荷情况之外，设计工程师越来越多地将更复杂的组合载荷情况添加到设计文件中，从而为结构的制造带来了大量的附加成本。这种情况可能是由于组合的垂直和水平荷载以及梁柱连接处规定的强轴和弱轴弯矩（实际上不会同时发生）引起的。即使它们同时发生，荷载通常假定为完全刚性的连接节点，而周围结构固有的柔性实际上倾向于减轻所施加的连接力。有信心地识别这些情况，并相应地解释该区域的真实结构行为，反过来又会导致结构的成本显著降低。拟议的研究项目将调查整体节点和框架行为的力学，以开发一种通用的方法来设计复杂的荷载组合，重点是弱轴力矩，允许在合理的情况下消除加劲肋，从而降低成本。

Industrial structures are most commonly designed using structural steel to take advantage of its versatility, adaptability, and ductility under complex and often ill-defined loading conditions. In order to cover a variety of load cases that could arise during the life of the structure due to wind, design hydraulic events, machine operation, and potential future repurposing, in addition to other loading scenarios common in industrial sectors, design engineers are increasingly adding more complex combined loading cases to the design documents, creating substantial added costs to the fabrication of the structure. This situation could arise as a result of combined vertical and horizontal loads in addition to strong- and weak-axis moments being specified at beam-to-column connections that in truth would not occur concurrently. Even where they do occur concurrently, the loads normally assume a perfectly rigid connection node, whereas flexibilities that are inherent to the surrounding structure actually tend to relieve the applied connection forces. Identifying these cases with confidence, and accordingly accounting for the true structural behaviour in this region would, in turn, result in a significant cost reduction for the structure. The proposed research project will investigate the mechanics of the overall joint and frame behaviour in order to develop a generalised approach to design for complex load combinations, with emphasis on weak-axis moments, to permit the elimination of stiffeners where justified, and in turn reduce costs.