ANALYSIS PROGRAM FOR THE DESIGN OF FLEXIBLY JOINTED FRAMES

To estimate second-order effects on the behavior and strength of steel frames with semi-rigid connections, as well as to perform practical f rame design easily and rationally, an attempt was made to develop a st ructural analysis program considering the characteristics of semi-rigi d connections in a direct manner. The program was developed with the f ollowing three main routines: 1. The practical procedure for structura l analysis is based on a simplified method presented previously. This method uses the closed-form elastic solutions of beam-columns and take s into account the inelastic property of connections. 2. The program P ACOM (Parameter Analysis of Connection Models) prepares the parameters of semi-rigid connection models using the program SCDB (Steel Connect ion Data Bank). 3. The graphic routine draws the general configuration and sectional force diagrams of the overall structure, the hysteresis loop in relation to the connection moment and relative rotation. The development of this system was made on an engineering workstation with a drawing function on a CRT display.