AVAILABLE ROTATION CAPACITY OF WIDE-FLANGE BEAMS AND BEAM-COLUMNS .1.THEORETICAL APPROACHES

The first part of the paper deals with determining the available rotat ion capacity of wide-flange steel beams and beam-columns limited by lo cal plastic buckling of flange and web. Using a collapse plastic mecha nism composed of plastic zones and yield lines, a specialized computer program DUCTROT 96 is developed with the aim of determining the ultim ate plastic rotation. The factors influencing the rotation capacity ar e included in the analysis. material properties, member dimensions, in teraction between flange and web in-plane or out-of-plane, plastic buc kling, cyclic lending, etc. In the second part, the theoretical result s are compared with experimental and numerical tests. (C) 1997 Elsevie r Science Ltd.