Effect of bolted splice within the plastic hinge zone on beam-to-column connection behavior

The purpose of this study is to investigate how a fully restrained bolted beam splice affects the connection behavior as a column-tree connection in steel special moment frames under cyclic loading when located within the plastic hinge zone. The impacts of this attachment in protected zone are observed by using nonlinear finite element analyses. This type of splice connection is designed as slip-critical connection and thereby, the possible effects of slippage of the bolts due to a possible loss of pretension in the bolts are also investigated. The 3D models with solid elements that have been developed includes three types of connections which are the connection having fully restrained beam splice located in the plastic hinge location, the connection having fully restrained beam splice located out of the plastic hinge and the connection without beam splice. All connection models satisfied the requirement for the special moment frame connections providing sufficient flexural resistance, determined at column face stated in AISC 341-16. In the connection model having fully restrained beam splice located in the plastic hinge, due to the pretension loss in the bolts, the friction force on the contact surfaces is exceeded, resulting in a relative slip. The reduction in the energy dissipation capacity of the connection is observed to be insignificant. The possibility of the crack occurrence around the bolt holes closest to the column face is found to be higher for the splice connection within the protected zone.